The Lady's Return
by jg16395
Summary: Humanity no longer exists...and the Master dominates the Earth. But even if the Doctor can stop the End of Time, he will still be the Lonely God, forever cursed to roam Space-time in solitude...unless, of course, Frederica can do something about it. But what secret does this Physics Professor hold in her watch? A/N; Don't own Doctor Who or anything from it - BBC does. EoT Pt II.
1. Prologue

Prologue

**_Gallifrey,_**_ the lost planet of the Time Lords...where they began...where they rose to the height of their power...where they descended into darkness...and where they fell. They also spawned their share of Renegades...my lover, the Doctor, was one such Time Lord, a Lonely God...and an Oncoming Storm, which would destroy the most feared demons of the Universe. But he made people better wherever and whenever he went, because that's the job of a Doctor...lately, he made me better, helping me to get through the toughest part of my life...but in the long run, he would always remain alone._

_That's what I thought, like so many before me...but then came the Showdown with the Master, followed by the End of Humanity, and the Opening of the Gate to Hell...my name is Frederica Shepherd...this is the story of my Rebirth..._

*DW*

**Gallifrey** was a ruin. The Dome of the Citadel was shattered. Buildings were either heavily damaged or completely destroyed. Annihilated Dalek Saucers littered the ground outside.

The President of the High Council and his entourage marched into the gloomy, dark, oppressive atmosphere of the High Council Chamber of Strategy. Already seated were seven other Councillors, one of which was a Visionary, a Time Lady with precognitive powers, who was busying herself with her scrawling at the far end of the desk. The President took his seat.

"What news of the Doctor?" he demanded.

"Disappeared, my Lord President," supplied the male Councillor on his far left. "No reports of the Doctor or any other Renegade Time Lord on the front line."

"But we know his intent," continued the female Councillor on his right. "The Doctor possesses the Moment, and he'll use it to destroy Daleks _and_ Time Lords alike."

"The Visionary confirms it," said the male Councillor. "Each of her prophecies says the same thing...that this is the Final Day of the Time War...that Gallifrey falls...that we die here...today."

"Burning...burning, so burning," rambled the Visionary. "Falling, falling, all of it falling..."

"Perhaps...it's time," suggested the female Councillor, shocking everyone in the Chamber. "This is only the furthest edge of the Time War, but at its heart...millions die every day...and get brought back to life, to find new ways of dying...over and over again...the travesty of life. Is it not better to end this _now?"_

"Thank you for your opinion," growled the President. He stood up to full height, exuding the might of his gravitas and terror, and pointed his Gauntlet at the Councillor. At once, her body was blasted into the very atoms that constituted it.

"I...will NOT...DIE!" the President shouted, his temple throbbing violently in fury. "DO you HEAR me?! A BILLION years of Time Lord History riding on our backs!" He lowered his voice, but this only served to make him more terrifying. "I will not let this perish. _I will not!"_ With that, he took his seat again.

The other Councillor decided to speak before his nerves failed him, and even then, his voice trembled with fear.

"Ther-there is _one_ part of the prophecy, my Lord," he rambled, taking a scrawling of Old High Gallifreyan and walking up to the President. "For-forgive me, it's...a little hard to decipher...but this," he inclined with his index finger, "talks of three survivors, beyond the Final Day...three Children of Gallifrey...two Time Lords and a Time Lady..."

"Does it name them?" asked the President curiously.

"It depicts...the two Time Lords," continued the Councillor, this time more confidently, "locked in their Final Battle...the phrase here," he indicated with his index finger again, "'the Enmity of Ages,' which would suggest..."

"...the _Doctor,"_ spat the President contemptuously, before adding as an afterthought, "and the Master."

"One word keeps being repeated...a name...'Earth'..."

"Earth...Earth...Earth...Earth," rambled the Visionary repeatedly, her voice rising each time.

"Earth...indigenous species...the Human Race..." elaborated the Councillor.

"Then maybe," said the President thoughtfully, "_that's_ where our Salvation lies...on Earth..."

"But there is one problem with the prophecy, my Lord President," continued the Councillor. "The Visionary was unable to determine the identity of the Time Lady. The only clue the prophecy yields is this phrase...'She will return to stand with her Doctor...'"

"...and together...she and her Doctor shall fight, fly and fall unto the End of Time!" chanted the Visionary, hysteria now overwhelming her.

"Someone close to the Doctor's hearts," realised the President, before coming to a puzzling halt in his train of thought, "but who could it be?"


	2. Poisoned for Life

Poisoned for Life

**The** Doctor, Fred and Wilf were now alone in a world full of Master Clones. Fred had been bound by her wrists to a nearby desk, Wilf to a chair, and the Doctor was fully restrained by a mobile safety seat, gagged. The Master then decided to take the opportunity to taunt him.

"Now then," he grinned evilly, "I've got a planet to run!"

*DW*

**Most** of what Fred heard the Master talk to his clones about was waffle, but she _did_ pick out the bit about the UNIT defences he now had complete access to. Her attention came back when the Master turned _his_ attention back to the Doctor.

"I now have all the resources needed to turn this planet into a warship," he said, likely fantasizing about all the chaos he could cause with such a weapon.

"Gonna turn the Earth into a Death Star, are you?" asked Fred, in an effort to lighten the mood for Wilf and the Doctor.

"Eh?" said the Master.

"Watch Star Wars sometime – you'll get the idea of where the joke comes from," Fred told him irritably, trying to ignore the thudding sound of the drums in her head. Something nasty occurred to her, making her change her tune, "in fact, you know what? _Don't_ watch it – I _shudder_ to think of what _you'd_ do with _that_ idea."

The Master shrugged off the quip and refocused his attention on the Doctor. He then took the chance to mock his greatest enemy, making fun of the fact that the Doctor was gagged.

"Anything to say, Doctor?" the Master asked in a bored tone. "What was that?" He began walking up to him as if he hadn't quite heard something the Doctor said. "Sorry?"

"You let 'im go, you swine," Wilf called defiantly from the other end of the room. He wasn't about to let _anyone_ – let alone _this_ monster – degrade the Doctor in this way.

"Oh, your Dad's still kicking up a fuss," sneered the Master.

"Well, I'd be proud if I _was!"_ shouted Wilf with pride. This seemed to aggravate the Master, who was by now tired of talking to someone he considered a stunted ape.

_"Hush,_ now!" snarled the Master. "_Listen_ to your Master!"

Out of the blue, a mobile phone began to ring. From the ringtone, Fred knew at once that it was Wilf's. Evidently, the Master picked up on this too.

"But – tha-that's a mobile," he said blankly.

"Yeah, hang on, I'll turn it off," Wilf told him.

"No – I don't think _you_ understand," the Master said patronizingly. "Everyone on the _planet_ is _me!_ And _I'm_ not phoning _you,_ so who the _hell_ is _that?"_

He then began turning out Wilf's pockets. One of the first things he found was the revolver.

_"Ooooh, look_ at _this!"_ the Master cried in mock-glee, which quickly became a mock-salutation. _"Good man!"_ He threw the gun on the carpet and continued to rummage, eventually finding the mobile. He flipped the display open and caught sight of the name.

"Donna," he said blankly, "who's Donna?"

"She's no-one. Just leave it," Wilf cried in protest.

The Master ignored him and proceeded to click the answer button. At once, Donna's terrified voice came out of the phone.

"Gramps, don't hang up," she begged, "you've gotta help me! Mum, Shaun, and everyone just changed. Where's Auntie Fred?!"

"Who is she? Why didn't she change?" the Master demanded, turning back to Wilf, but Fred beat him to explanation.

"She's my goddaughter. The reason she didn't change was because she was part of a biological metacrisis between herself and the Doctor's severed hand. She's part-Human, part-Time Lord," Fred explained. The Doctor had told her the details of the metacrisis, and the fate that awaited Donna if she ever remembered him.

"Ugh, he _loves_ playing with _Earthgirls,"_ the Master sneered in disgust. He walked to the Communication Display and addressed Naismith-Master.

"Trace the call!" the Master commanded.

"Trace the call," Naismith-Master ordered to the other Master Clones.

The Master then turned back to Wilf and held the phone to his ear.

"Say goodbye to the Freak, Granddad," he mocked, before pulling the phone back, walking over to Fred and pulling her across the room to join Wilf. "You too, Auntie Ginger, it's time to make your _sweet_ farewells." He placed the phone next to Fred's ear.

"Run, Donna!" she screamed into the phone. "Just run for your life and don't stop!"

In the moments between Fred's order and the next time Donna spoke into her phone, Fred could do nothing but sit there in hysterical panic. But when Donna spoke next, her worst fears were confirmed.

"He's everywhere, it's everyone," cried Donna, but what she said next really sent Fred into terror. "I can see...these things...why can I see a giant wasp?!"

"DONNA, NO!" shrieked Fred, fear for her goddaughter's life now threatening to overwhelm her. "DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT!"

"SHE'S RIGHT, SWEETHEART! DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!" shouted Wilf, but Donna was unable to heed the warning.

"It hurts!" she cried out in pain. "My head...oh, my head...it just keeps gettin' hotter...and hotter...and hotter...and hotter...and hot-AH!" she screamed. No further sound came from the phone.

"Donna?" Fred whispered. "Donna! No..." she broke down, choking as tears streamed down her face. Thanks to this _monster,_ her goddaughter was now dead...or was she? Fred caught sight of the Doctor smirking in a knowing fashion. He winked at her. And then she knew. Donna was still alive!

Evidently, the Master picked up on this as well, as he walked over to the Doctor and ripped the gag off of his mouth.

"Thank you, that's much better, hello!" the Doctor cried in humorous relief. This then changed to a disappointed, patronizing tone. "But really, did you _really_ think that I'd leave my best friend without a defence mechanism? The same goes for you, Fred! Did you really doubt me that much?" he added with a laugh.

"Shut up," Fred gasped with a smile of relief, "you daft Spaceman."

"Enough with the flirting," the Master snapped, his voice then taking a mock-smiling tone. "Tell me – where's yer TARDIS?"

"You could be magnificent," the Doctor told him, going into Philosopher Mode.

"Where is it?" the Master repeated.

"I'm serious – you're stone-cold brilliant, you really are," the Doctor continued. "But you could be so much more. _We_ could travel the stars _together,_ it would be my _honour._ Cos you don't need to _own_ the universe – just _see_ it. To see the whole of Time and Space, and all of that _majesty_ and _brilliance_ – that's ownership enough."

"Would it stop then, the noise in my head?" the Master asked in a whisper. He then added in hesitation, "I don't know what I'd be without that sound."

"I wonder what I'd be, without you," the Doctor told him evenly.

"What's he on about? What noise?" Wilf asked curiously.

The Master turned, before heading into full Nostalgic Mode. "It began on Gallifrey, when I was a child," he told him, "not that you'd call it _childhood_ – more a lifetime of duty. At the age of 8, I was taken for initiation into the Academy, and told to stare into the Untempered Schism-"

"What's the Untempered Schism?" Fred interrupted him.

"It's a gap in the fabric of Reality," the Doctor explained. "Initiates have to stare into the whole of Time and Space itself – and it hurts."

"They took me there – in the dark," the Master continued through gritted teeth. "And as I saw into the Vortex, I heard it...the drums..."

"The never-ending drumbeat," Fred finished for him. At this, the Master stared. "I heard it in my dreams...and now I hear it all the time, ever since you walked through the Immortality Gate..."

*DW*

**"The** Untempered Schism," said the President, "that's when it began."

"It was told...as the Master stared into the Time Vortex," explained the Councillor, "he heard a sound...a drumbeat that tormented him all of his life..."

"A warrior's march..."

"A symptom of insanity, my Lord," the Councillor said.

Then, the Visionary tapped her long-nailed index finger four times in succession. The President turned to face her. The tapping rang out again.

"A rhythm of four!" the President cried, realisation dawning on him. "The heartbeat of a Time Lord..."

All that anyone in the room could focus on was the rhythm that had caused the deaths of billions throughout the whole of Space-time...


	3. Interrogation & Escape

Interrogation & Escape

**"Ah,** but that brings me to two questions," smirked the Master, whose voice quickly became demanding. "Who are you? And why didn't _you_ change when every other Human did?"

"Well, as for your first question," began Fred, "I thought I knew – but these past few months I've never been more uncertain." She paused, to choose the right words for her second answer. "As to the second question, I have no idea. And even if I did, if that info will keep us alive, I'm hardly gonna tell you, am I?"

"Then perhaps I should turn out _your_ pockets, Ginger," he simply replied. He began to do just that. _Now I'm doomed,_ thought Fred resignedly, as she remembered her guiding voice telling her the risks of the Master discovering their conversations together. After a short time, the Master found her watch and held it out for all to see. Wilf was puzzled, but the Doctor had a look of blank shock on his face.

_"So!"_ cried the Master gleefully. "Our _Flirting Professor_ has some secrets of her own, does she?! I mean, a _Fob Watch,_ of all things!" His gleeful tone ended abruptly, replaced by an accusatory one. "Do you have something to tell us, _Professor?"_

"N-no, I-"

_"Hush!"_ spat the Master. "I'm _busy!"_ He began to walk over to the Doctor, but suddenly, his skeleton flashed violently and he fell to the floor, dropping Fred's watch.

"The Gate wasn't enough," the Doctor told the Master gravely. "You're _still_ dying."

"This body was _born_ out of death," he replied, gasping for breath. "All it can do is _die!"_ He managed to haul himself to his feet, now in deep thought.

_"A-HA!"_ the Master exclaimed, having an epiphany of genius.

"What?!" cried the Doctor, unnerved.

"That noise...in my head...is now within six _billion_ heads!" the Master explained. "Have _you_ noticed anything strange, Doctor?!"

"I was told a prophecy, regarding the 'End of Time,'" the Doctor told him. "But let's try and _fight_ it..."

"But what if I'm _part of it?!"_ the Master cried joyfully. "The drumbeat could be calling...from _so_ far away...from the _End of Time!_ And now it's been amplified six _billion_ times...I can triangulate its source! Oh, Doctor, that's what your _prophecy_ was – ME!" The last word was shouted. He then backhanded the Doctor across his face and demanded forcefully, _"Where's the TARDIS?"_

_"No,"_ the Doctor refused just as strongly, "just _stop_ – just _think!"_

But the Master wasn't going to give in that easily.

"Kill her!" he commanded a nearby Soldier-Master, who walked up to Fred and pointed his rifle at her head. The Doctor's hearts began to race in panic before he noticed there was something odd about the Soldier-Master.

"I _need_ that technology, Doctor, or the Ginger is dead, and the Old Man will join her if you still don't tell me after _that!"_ the Master stated his ultimatum.

_"No, Doctor!"_ Fred told him firmly. "Don't give him the TARDI-"

"I'LL KILL HER, RIGHT NOW!" the Master shouted angrily, outlining the threat. The Doctor then took his opportunity while he still had it.

"Actually," he began in a knowledgeable manner, "the most amazing thing about _you_ is that, after all this time, you're still _bone-dead_ stupid!"

The Master twisted his head as if to dispense with an irksome fly. "Take aim!"

"You got _six billion_ pairs of eyes," the Doctor continued, "but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"

"Like _what?"_ the Master sneered.

"That guard..." the Doctor paused for dramatic effect, "...is _one inch_ too tall!"

Immediately, the fake Master Clone butted the stock on his rifle into the back of the Master's head, knocking him out cold. The soldier then removed his helmet to reveal the Vinvocci Aide from earlier. He looked horrified at what he had done.

"Oh my God, I hit him!" he cried, as if he had committed a grievous sin. "I've never hit anyone before in my life!"

"Thank you very much!" Fred told him, relieved that she and her friends now had a way out. "Just one more thing – could you pass me my pocket watch? It's on the floor next to the Master."

He nodded and put her watch in her pocket. Just then, Addams entered, and her face was a mask of impatience.

"Well don't just stand there – get them out!" she shouted at the Aide, before moving to free Wilf from the armchair.

"God bless the Cactuses!" he cried.

"That's Cacti!" the Doctor corrected him.

_"That's racist!"_ the Vinvocci Aide called over to him, irked at their remarks and still untying Fred from the table. He then turned to Addams. "We don't have the Time to untie him!" He inclined his head towards the Doctor.

"Well – _wheel him!"_ she cried in frustration.

_Oh, he won't like that,_ thought Fred's inner voice, laughing. This soon became abundantly evident.

"No, _no_ – untie me proper-" but he was cut off when the Aide tilted the wheelchair and began to roll him across the floor. All the way to the basement, the Doctor protested loudly and indignantly at his being pushed around like a trolley in a supermarket...

*DW*

**It** was a long time and a few painful staircases before they reached their destination, owing to the sheer size of the layout of the Naismith Mansion, and with the Master and his Clones right behind them, it was a panicked one. But eventually, reach it they did – only to find the Master Clones cornering the unlikely party.

"Gotcha!" he cried in insane delight.

"Oh, ya think?!" Addams sneered, before pressing the switch on her fake watch – the Doctor and Fred quickly realised what she was about to do.

"NO!" they shouted simultaneously, but too late – they were already heading off to who-knows-where, via teleport...


	4. Hiding, Questions & Answers

Hiding, Questions & Answers

**...where** they found themselves greeted by the claustrophobic sound of machines. The Doctor at once resumed struggling against the bonds of the wheelchair.

"ALRIGHT, FINE!" he shouted in frustration. "NOW GET ME OUT OF THIS THING!"

"You don't say _thanks,_ do ya?" Addams sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"He's not gonna let us _go!"_ the Doctor told her, irritated by her apparent stupidity. "Now get me out!"

As Addams and the Vinvocci Aide began to finally remove the bonds holding the Doctor in place, Wilf and Fred caught a sight that most Humans of the 21st Century could only dream of having any hope or chance to see – that of seeing the Dawn rise over the Earth in Space...

*DW*

**Meanwhile,** back in the Naismith Mansion basement, the Master and his Clones drew up their contingency plans against the escaping party.

"A-ha!" cried the Master in homicidal glee. _"Target practice!"_ he whispered evilly, clicking his fingers. He led a number of the Soldier-Masters back to the main room, while the remainder stayed behind in the basement.

*DW*

**Back** on the Vinvocci Salvage Ship, the Vinvocci Duo had finally managed to get the Doctor out of the wheelchair. At once, he sprang into action, pointed his Sonic Screwdriver at the Teleport Control Systems and activated the Screwdriver, causing them to blow into sparks and fizzle out.

"That's so he can't follow us," he explained hurriedly to everyone present. "But we're still not safe yet!"

"But we're up in Space!" cried Addams. "We're 100,000 miles above the Earth!"

"And the Master has got _every_ missile on the planet ready to fire upon this ship!" Fred deadpanned irritably, fed up with the woman's stupidity – that, on top of having to hear the constant drumbeat. "What, didn't you think Humans would _have_ the technology required to build weapons as powerful as that?"

Addams could only think of one thing to say; "Good point, that!"

With those words, everyone rushed off to the flight deck – everyone except Wilf, that is; he was still transfixed by the sight before him.

"Wilf, come on!" cried Fred impatiently.

"Bu-but we're in Space!" he said blankly.

"Yeah, I know – no time for sight-seeing, I'm afraid," she said hurriedly.

*DW*

**"Open** the radar to maximum!" commanded the Master over the comm. "Point it into Space! FIND ME THAT SHIP!"

"Yes, sir!" replied the UNIT HQ-Master.

*DW*

**On** the flight deck of the Vinvocci Ship, the Vinvocci were preparing to leave Earth orbit.

"We're just a salvage team!" protested Addams, as though that were a legitimate excuse for abandoning the Earth to the control of the Master. "Local politics have got _nothing_ to do with _us!"_

"We're _not_ leaving!" the Doctor growled, furious at their indifference at the fate of a whole planet. He pointed his Sonic Screwdriver and activated it, causing all the Ship's systems to burn out and die...

*DW*

**On** Earth, the UNIT Trooper-Masters had opened their radar to maximum, scanning every section of Earth orbit. They found _nothing._

"Nothing, sir," one of them told the UNIT HQ-Master gravely, who forwarded this information to the Original-Master.

The Master turned his attention to the Soldier-Masters in the basement of the Naismith Mansion; "Teleport co-ordinates?"

"Nothing, sir," one of them replied, "the whole system's sealed off. Still," he said, before turning to the others and ordering them to fire on the teleport system. The system was completely destroyed. "No way back now – he's stranded."

*DW*

**Back** onboard the Ship, everything was silent. Addams and the Aide were waiting for any sign of the missiles that Fred and the Doctor knew they were now safe from.

"Well – no sign of any missiles," Addams said, looking around, "no sign of...anything." Her tone became angry with her next words that were directed at the Doctor. _"You've wrecked the place!"_

"The Navigation System's gone," continued the Aide. "We've only got Emergency Lighting. Everything _else_ is _kaput!_ We can't move – we're _stuck_ in orbit!"

"Thanks to _you,_ you _idiot!"_ Addams shouted at him furiously. With that, she and the Aide left the deck.

The Doctor could only sit silently, wondering what in the Universe he was going to do now. His plan to catch the Master before he could do anything dangerous had failed. He had failed to reason with his long-time foe. And he didn't have a Plan C.

Fred must have noticed this show on his face. "We're done for, aren't we?" she asked the Doctor, staring him in the eyes. As she did so, she was once again confronted with a vision of the curly-haired, toothy-grinned Space Bohemian – _good title,_ thought Fred, _Space Bohemian. But where did that vision come from?_ "Still..." she trailed off, trying not to succumb to her despair at the loss of her entire species.

"I noticed what the Master was holding in his hand after he'd turned out your pockets, Fred," the Doctor said in a grave tone. "And I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry, Doctor?" she asked him curiously, turning back to him. "You've nothing to be sorry for – as far as I know."

Wilf's memory was stirred by their conversation. His mind went back to the warning he'd received from the Woman. _If it should appear that all hope will be lost..._

Well, all hope _had_ been lost, but Wilf couldn't tell Fred in front of the Doctor.

"Wilf?" asked the Doctor. "When Fred became friends with Donna's mother, did Sylvia ever visit Fred's parents?"

"N-no," replied Wilf uncertainly, "Fred told us that her parents died in a car accident when she was young, but she said she couldn't remember it."

"Is this important?" asked Fred worriedly.

"Very," the Doctor told her gravely. "What's the earliest age you can remember being beyond the shadow of a doubt?"

"19, in 1972," replied Fred.

"And your current age?" the Doctor winced as he asked this – one wouldn't normally ask how old a woman was.

"56," answered Fred, not fazed by the question – she had more important things to worry about than impertinent questions.

"37 years out of 56 with memories that exist beyond the shadow of a doubt," the Doctor surmised. "I'm sorry Fred, but there's no nice way to say it," he told her, tears in his eyes at the fact that this wonderful woman was but the echo of someone far greater.

"Wha-what do you mean?!" Fred cried in panic. "Doctor, I don't-"

"You weren't born," deadpanned the Doctor, really crying now. "Because you didn't have parents. You came into sentient existence at the physical age of 19. You lived your actual life for 37 years, unaware that the one you were created from was with you all the time."

"Oh my God," Wilf cried, tears now in _his_ eyes as he watched Fred break down into agonised sobs of the worst pain imaginable – that of the broken heart. This was the worst day of his life – first the Master had changed everyone into a copy of him, now it turned out that the life of his daughter's best friend had been a half-truth.

"How do you know?" asked Fred, her heart completely shattered to pieces.

"Because I've been through it," the Doctor told her gravely. "I once had to hide, so I had to make myself Human. My Human self was called John Smith. He only lived 3 months. The Master's done it too. He was hidden for 17 years at the End of the Universe as Professor Yana."

"So the reason I don't remember my parents is because I was born a member of your race, then?" Fred deadpanned, her tears now dried up.

"Yes," the Doctor said blankly, his tears just as dry. "And in order to bring your Time Lady identity back to the waking Universe, you have to open the pocket watch."

"But who is she?! _Who am I, Doctor?!"_ she demanded furiously.

"Only you can know that, Fred," he told her. "The watch is a perception filter as well as a receptacle for your identity; that's how the Time Lord – or Lady, in your case – is undetectable to anyone, even a fellow Time Lord."

"I..." said Fred uncertainly, "...I think I need to be alone for a bit." She then became to run, anyplace where she could get some peace.

Wilf called after her to try and comfort her. "No. Fred, wait!"

"Just leave me be!" she cried, bursting into fresh tears all over again.

Wilf didn't have the heart to argue. If Fred needed time on her own, he wasn't going to stop her.

"Oh God," he cried brokenly. "She doesn't deserve this, Doctor..."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." the Doctor whispered – his voice as quiet as the weakest of breezes.

"But...if Fred's really a Time Lady, then..."

"Who could she be?" the Doctor finished for him. Wilf nodded. "That's what I'm worried about...for now I'm hoping she'll be a friendly one..."

*DW*

**"...we** still haven't been able to identify the Time Lady, my Lord," the Councillor informed him timidly. "The form of Old High Gallifreyan that much of this part of the prophecy is comprised of defies all known methods of translation..."

The President just sat in his chair, frustrated beyond imagining. "Who could she be?" he muttered furiously to himself.

Almost immediately, a Priority Omega alarm sounded, blaring throughout the High Council Chambers. The information that followed was most opportune for the President and his skill of deduction.

_"Romanadvoratrelundar has escaped. Recapture, Priority Omega!"_

The President smiled. _Most opportune,_ he thought. _The clue is unveiled as soon as a Priority Omega prisoner escapes. The Lady Romana..._


	5. Personal Truths & Falling Stars

Personal Truths & Falling Stars

**Frederica** Shepherd had never felt pain like this before in her life. It was worse than any physical pain – any physical torture ever imagined in the Universe paled in comparison to this.

_My life was nothing but a lie,_ she thought, agonized by the latest revelation she had received.

_Not true, you know,_ she heard a voice that was supposed to be soothing. But a soothing voice wouldn't honey the bitter pill that was the truth – the truth that she was really a Time Lady from Gallifrey.

_Oh, and what would you know about Truth?_ Fred asked the voice savagely.

_Enough to know that the Truth can be born from a lie, Frederica,_ replied the voice evenly. _Truth is a matter of perspective – no matter if it's a Scientific, Historical or Personal Truth. You're a scientist – you of all people should know that today's Scientific Truth is often tomorrow's Scientific falsehood. And as for Historical Truth, History is always written by the victor, so it's always full of liars wherever you go._

_What about __**my**__ Personal Truth?_ Fred questioned brokenly – the pain was just beginning to feel dulled. _Or am I just a half-truth?_

_You may have been born from a lie, but you are definitely part of a Truth,_ answered her inner voice, taking the philosophical route. _You're a part of the Truth that Humanity can be born anywhere in the Universe – from the Dark or the Light, from Truth or Falsehood, from the Ordinary or the Extraordinary._

At these words, the pain ceased. Fred just _knew_ it was because she had accepted her voice's wisdom. Though she knew the voice was her Time Lady persona, it was also a source of comfort.

_Now that this is taken care of, I imagine you have a few questions for me,_ the voice stated knowingly. _So fire away._

_Who are you?_ Fred asked tentatively. _You've been my Guardian Angel the past three years, but I never found out your name._

The words that followed were words that sent Fred into complete wonder and awe.

_My name is Romanadvoratrelundar,_ the voice told her, _or, if you prefer-_

_Romana,_ Fred finished for her. _The Doctor told me a bit about you._

_I know – I heard the conversation the pair of you had when you volunteered to help him catch the Master,_ replied Romana.

_So you didn't tell me before now because you wanted to stay hidden from the Master?_ Fred guessed.

_Correct,_ Romana confirmed. _And while we're on the topic of the Master, we should talk about the drumbeat._

_What is it, Romana?_ Fred asked worriedly.

_Some say it's a symptom of his insanity, Fred,_ she told her gravely. _Others say it's the cause. But while I believe the first hypothesis is rubbish, the second doesn't hold much more ground than the first._

_Why?_ Fred asked curiously.

_Well, if you look at this thoroughly,_ replied Romana, _do __**you**__ think a mere __**sound**__ could cause the child who would become the Master to go insane? I'm not so sure – between you and me; that is saying something! But no, I think the sound means much more. Of course, I'll need to analyse it first._

_How?_ Fred asked uncertainly. _You'd have to open a mind link with the Master._

_And we may just have one, remember?_ Romana reminded her.

_Of course! It's in my head too!_ Fred cried in joy, before something worrying got her attention. _But...couldn't it drive __**me**__ insane, too?_

_I promise I'll do all I can to keep it from taking over,_ Romana swore solemnly. _You'll have to focus on the drums for as long as you can. I'll let you know what I find..._

With that, the internal conference closed down, and Fred focused her mind on the drumbeat. As she did, it became louder...

*DW*

**Back** on Earth, the Master and his clones were preparing to join their minds with one another.

"Are we all prepared?" he asked of his Clones.

"We are ready, sir," confirmed Naismith-Master.

"Then tonight, we listen, all of us," the Master said. "Just...listen..."

This mental union was happening all over the planet. All six billion Masters, linked by one sound – a sound that was rapidly becoming audible...

"There! The sound is tangible!" whispered the Master. "Someone could only have designed this...but whom?"

*DW*

"It is done, my Lord," informed the Councillor dutifully. "A signal comprised of four drums, sent back through Time and implanted inside the Master's head..."

"Then we have a link to where the Master is _right now,"_ whispered the President.

"But we're still trapped inside the Time Lock, sir," reminded the Councillor. "The drumbeat is nothing but a thought...an idea..."

"Then we need something to make the contact physical," realised the President. "Something...so simple, it could follow the link..."

"A star...shining...shining so brightly..." the Visionary began to chant once more. "Burning...burning so hot..."

"Of course," the President cried in a hushed whisper, looking at the White Point Star situated in his Rod. The White Point Star that had served as part of his badge of office for so long...would now become part of the plan to ensure the Rise of Gallifrey. "And if this...were on Earth..."

So saying, he took the White Point Star out of the Rod and threw it into the Holographic Display, which could also serve as a Time Corridor...

*DW*

**Sometime** after all the Master Clones listened in unison to the drumbeat, the Clones in the Naismith Mansion all heard a sound above the roof.

"It's coming from above!" cried Naismith-Master.

"It's coming from the SKY!" shouted the Master in realisation.

He and the Clones rushed outside, where they all caught sight of a meteorite in the distance.

"Get out there!" commanded the Master. "Get out there and FIND IT!"

"Yes sir!" cried the Soldier-Masters.

*DW*

**When** the search party of Soldier-Masters reached the impact zone, there was nothing...or rather, almost nothing. One of the Soldier-Masters entered the burning crater and found a small diamond – a diamond that shouldn't exist...

"Sir, you won't believe this," the Soldier-Master reported over the comm. "It's a diamond...a most impossible diamond."

The next words sent insane joy raging throughout the Master's body.

"It's a White Point Star!"

The Master could only laugh insanely at this news, his skeleton illuminated from within by the life-force energy that was still burning away...


	6. Vale Frederica

Vale Frederica

**...the** time between Fred and Romana's first conversation on the topic of the Master and the next was marked by the constant thudding of the drumbeat, a compound musical rhythm that had haunted the Master since the age of 8. But eventually, Romana returned to the dreamscape to report her findings to Fred. But they weren't good news.

_This is very bad,_ Romana said grimly to her Human self. _The worst possible situation, topped with another planet full of bad._

_What could make it __**that**__ bad?_ Fred asked.

_It's as I feared, Fred,_ Romana told her. _That drumbeat is not just a signal – it's the calling card for a mind-parasite called 'The Madness.' Proper noun, by the way,_ she added to clarify.

_And what __**is**__ the Madness?_ Fred questioned her with curiosity.

_The Madness is a non-corporeal life-form that seeks to cause insanity throughout the Universe in any way it can,_ Romana explained. _Because it's non-corporeal, it needs a host-body to manifest itself inside._

_And it chose the Master?_ Fred guessed, catching on to what Romana was saying.

_Yes – once a sentient life-form hears the drumbeat, the Madness has them ensnared in its power, and will slowly poison the mind of the Receptacle,_ Romana continued, her voice becoming even more grim, _controlling, twisting and unhinging it all the way throughout the time it festers in the Receptacle's mind in an effort to create something insanely evil._

_So I'm going to go insane?!_ Fred cried, fear overcoming her at the thought of losing her sanity.

_You have a bit more leeway, Fred,_ Romana assured her. _While the Madness's power __**is**__ affecting you, it is __**not**__ doing so to the same degree as it affected the Master, as you are not the Receptacle – you only have a psychic link to him. It took several decades for it to drive the Master insane. However, a Human mind does not have the same force of will as that of a Time Lord. And to make things worse, once it's done with you, it will spread to the nearest mind with a psychic link – me. The only sense in which you have more leeway is the relative lifetime of your respective species._

_Is there any way to get it out of my mind?_ Fred asked, hoping that Romana, all-knowing Romana, would have the answer to _this_ question.

_It's never been tried, as very few people know about the Madness,_ Romana told her sadly. _I'm sorry to have to say this, but the only known sure-fire method of exorcising the Madness is to cut off the psychic link._

_Another euphemism for death,_ Fred speculated grimly. _I guess that's better than going insane. But I have the feeling you're not finished explaining how bad this really is, are you?_

_You really __**are**__ a sharp one,_ Romana mused. _I'm glad you're my Human counterpart. But you're right – that's not all. What makes it worse is where the Madness came from._

_Where?_ Fred wondered. The next words caused dread to fill her soul.

_The Time War,_ Romana told her gravely. _In my research into the Madness, I discovered that it was a weapon created by Rassilon-_

_The one who the Doctor thought had killed you?_ Fred questioned.

_That's the one,_ Romana replied. _He created the Madness, sent it back through Gallifrey's past to the point when the Master was ordered to stare into the Schism and implanted it inside his head. In effect, Rassilon is responsible for every form of life the Master caused to die._

_Why would the Madness be able to help Rassilon?_ Fred questioned.

_The Time War is contained inside a Time Lock; an area of Space-time where nothing can get in or out – except something that is already in two places at once,_ Romana told her.

_Then Rassilon is transmitting from the Time War into the Master's head!_ Fred exclaimed. _That could break the Time Lock! Rassilon could get out!_

_Which is why I have to ask something terrible of you,_ Romana explained grimly.

_You want me to open the Fob Watch and become you again,_ Fred guessed.

_If only so that the Doctor does not have to roam the Universe alone forever,_ continued Romana. _Do you love him, Frederica?_

Fred paused before answering. _Yes._

_Despite knowing you can't promise him forever?_ Her Time Lady counterpart pressed.

_Yes,_ Fred confirmed, before realising something. _You want to return to him! You love him too, and you can give him forever!_

_Normally, I'd strike down the ego of anyone who suggests that I love him,_ Romana told her with a smile. _But I really shouldn't bother trying to reprimand my Human self. Yes, I love him._

_In that case,_ Fred announced, _promise me something, Romana._

_Name it,_ Romana heeded.

_I want you to do everything you can to find a way to help Donna remember who she is safely,_ Fred pleaded. _She deserves to know why her godmother won't ever see her again._

_I promise,_ Romana swore, the truest of sincerities in her voice.

With those words, the mental conference closed down for the final time. Fred took the Fob Watch out of her pocket and held it near to her face. Her thought went out to the people she loved the most. Shaun, Wilf, Sylvia, Donna, the Doctor...all of them. It was time for the life of one of the greatest Time Ladies in the History of Gallifrey to return to the waking Universe.

She applied the tiniest of pressures to the Watch's release button, and at once, it sprang open, revealing the vivid mixture of Bioelectricity and Artron Energy behind it. As the residual Light struck Frederica's eyes, the memories that had been buried for 37 years finally resurfaced.

Frederica Shepherd had undergone her Rebirth...


	7. Exspectata Retro Romana

Exspectata Retro Romana

**At** the age of 8, she was standing before the Untempered Schism. She had been given the instruction to stare into this wondrous, terrifying portent of Time itself. She could not run until the time was up, so she steeled herself for the experience.

As she stared, she was confronted with the entirety of Space and Time in her mind. By Omega, it hurt so much. She desperately wanted to run, but she would not cave in to the agony. She would not let herself down, let alone her family...

Eventually, the pain ceased. She had managed to stare into the Schism for the whole time allotted. She heard the approach of the Instructor.

"Your name?" he asked impassively.

She thought only for a nanosecond. If she was going to be her own person, her own Time Lady, then she would have a name that no-one forgot.

"Romanadvoratrelundar," she replied with no hesitation in her voice.

With those words, the Time Lady who would one day become the twin hearts of the Doctor was born...

*DW*

**"Oh** look! The Ice Maiden has descended to mingle with the commoners!" drawled a young Time Lord. When Romanadvoratrelundar had arrived at the Prydon Academy, a group of Time Tots had suspected that she was a know-it-all brainiac, while she had gathered the impression that they were insecure bullies. Neither group was disappointed. "How did your exam go, Ice Maiden?"

"Passed with 99%," replied Romana calmly, her face not betraying her inward irritation with the Bully.

"You think you're so impressive, just because you nearly got 100%?" scoffed the Bully derisively.

"Better than scraping 51% on the _fifth_ attempt running, Retard," she sneered icily – she had decided early on into her Academy day that if the Bullies were going to pester her this way, she would find some ammunition of her own to use against them. She'd also picked up some colourful language from her study of Xenolinguistics, the course to study alien languages.

The words she used were the ones that struck the chord. The Bully's face turned an ugly puce colour, and Romana caught sight of a vein in his temple throbbing so violently that she thought it might burst and trigger a very premature regeneration.

"That's confidential info, Bitch!" shouted the Bully angrily. "I could report you to Tutor Borusa!"

"Do it, then!" Romana spat scornfully. "Who do you think Borusa will believe?! Me, the studious Academy Ice Maiden, or you, the envious Academy Retard?! You've already lost!"

With that, she walked away. This was the problem with her life at the Academy – by Omega, her whole life on Gallifrey, for it wasn't just confined to Academic life. She could pass any examination with a score just shy of 100%, but she never felt truly happy, never truly satisfied. If Gallifrey couldn't fill her life with – well, for want of a better word – _life,_ then what could?

*DW*

**Romana's** mind was truly and utterly boggled. How could the President have been assassinated? She'd heard the story about how the Doctor had almost been executed for the crime, but Borusa then spread a story about how the Master, Gallifrey's most infamous Child, had assassinated the President, only to be gunned down by Chancellor Goth, who had perished in the exchange of fire with him. But shortly afterwards, the Capitol suffered damage on a colossal scale, and even though a new story was spread, Romana could tell that Borusa had 'adjusted the truth,' as he used to say. So she had listened to the rumours spread by Engin and Spandrell, the ones that depicted the Doctor stopping the Master from unhinging the Eye of Harmony from its Dynamic Balance against the mass of Gallifrey. Romana had stumbled over the idea that the Doctor would do such a favour for the people who had given him so much grief, but it made more sense than Borusa's tale.

*DW*

**If** Romana was surprised by the Vardan/Sontaran Invasion, it was nothing compared to the simultaneous combination of excitement and fear she felt at being chosen by the President of the High Council to search for the Key to Time with the Doctor. To even be considered for such an assignment was an honour for any Time Lord, and she was eager for a chance to meet the Doctor, the one who had stopped a revenge-driven Omega from destroying the Universe and prevented the destruction of Gallifrey at the hands of the Master. With the Core of the Key in her right hand, she was transported to the location of the Doctor's TT Capsule, or TARDIS, to use the common term. Once inside, she found that the entire Capsule was...antiquated, to be polite. She began to carefully program into the Console a Control Slot for the Core. The TARDIS protested briefly at such an action, but Romana managed to sooth her. Her thoughts on the Capsule were not completely positive – she hoped her first impressions of the Doctor were better...

*DW*

**She** glanced down at the Doctor, and was taken aback by the brief twinge of hormones when she gazed at him – _is this sexual attraction?_ Romana wondered briefly. She also noticed a canine-esque Mobile Computer labelled 'K-9' beside him – _gimmicky, but cute,_ she thought, smiling inwardly.

"My name is Romanadvoratrelundar," she introduced herself, in a dignified manner.

"Well, I'm terribly sorry about that," the Doctor said, in a contrastingly casual tone. "Is there anything _we_ can do?" he added, gesturing to the K-9 Unit. This was irksome for Romana – he was evidently not the man the modern Gallifreyan folk tales described, so she was almost at a loss as to what to say next. But she quickly got herself back on track with her explanation for being in his TARDIS at that moment in Time.

"The President of the Supreme Council sent me," Romana continued, doing her best to distract herself from her inward attraction to him, not helped by the fact that in terms of Biology, she was still an adolescent – _why did he have to regenerate into such a handsome body last time?_ Romana thought in exasperation. "I was told to give you this," she added, handing him the Core.

"What is it?"

"According to my instructions, it's the Core to the Key to Time," she told the Doctor, garnering a look of realisation from him. "Very exciting, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose it must be, for someone as _young_ and _inexperienced_ as you are," he replied, using the same casual, fickle manner as earlier.

_OK, now it's show-up time,_ she thought, inwardly smirking. "I may be inexperienced, but I _did_ graduate from the Academy with a Triple First," she told him calmly.

The Doctor snorted, evidently trying to stifle a laugh. "I suppose you think we should be very impressed by that too, eh?"

Romana quickly caught on as to how to crush his ego. "Well, it's better than scraping through with 51% on the _second attempt."_ Admittedly, he wasn't a complete academic failure, not being as intellectually handicapped as the Bully, but she'd looked up his scores, and they weren't show-stopping, to use an Earth term.

"That information is confidential!" snapped the Doctor angrily, backing away from her quickly. He then broke off into a ramble of half-heard mutterings. "...President...should've thrown him to the Sontarans when I had the chance..."

*DW*

**"You're** sulking," Romana said in an observant manner.

"I'm _not_ sulking," the Doctor bit back childishly. He was leaning against the TARDIS wall in a petulant posture.

"That's ridiculous, for someone as old as you are," Romana scoffed.

"I'm not _old!"_ he protested. Romana merely snorted. "What?"

"759?"

"756!" he snapped irritably. "That's not _old_ – it's just _mature."_

Romana knew when she had the upper hand in an argument, and quickly exploited her new verbal weapon. "You've lost count somewhere!" she realised.

"Well, I ought to know my own age!" the Doctor cried.

"Yes, but after the first few centuries, I expect things get a bit _foggy,_ don't they?" she retorted playfully.

The Doctor stood up and marched over to the Console, and when he spoke, his tone was a completely serious one. "Now look! It's no good, this isn't going to work!"

"Doctor, you're not giving me a _chance!"_ she told him. "It's funny, you know, but before I met you, I was even willing to be impressed."

The Doctor could only stare in disbelief. "Indeed?"

"Oh yes!" Romana confirmed, before continuing with her psychoanalysis of him. "Of course, now I realise that your behaviour simply derives from a subtransitory, experimental, hypertoid-induced condition, aggravated, I expect, by multiencephalogical tensions." She finished, and the Doctor was still staring, this time blankly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"Well, to put it very simply, Doctor," Romana explained to him as if she were the teacher and he were the student, "you're suffering from a Massive Compensation Syndrome."

"Is that the sort of rubbish they're pouring into your head at the Academy?!" he asked incredulously.

"You know, I might even use your case in my thesis when-" she began in an effort to tease him.

"I'll show you whether I'm suffering from a Massive Compensation Syndrome!" he snapped, in an effort to claw back whatever was left of his dignity. "And you're not going back to Gallifrey – not for a _very_ long time yet, _I regret to say!"_ He spat the last five words angrily.

It became clear to Romanadvoratrelundar that day that the Doctor still held such a bitter resentment of the Time Lords that he barely considered them his own species anymore...

*DW*

**"Rule** one – do exactly as I say," the Doctor began to list off his rules for travelling in his TARDIS as they stepped out onto Ribos to search for the First Segment of the Key. "Rule two – stick close to me. Rule three – let me do all the talking. Am I clear?"

"You couldn't make it clearer," Romana affirmed.

"Good. One more thing," he added. "Your name."

"What about my name?" she demanded suspiciously.

"It's too long," he replied simply. "By the time I've called; 'Look out-' he sighed. "What was your name?"

"Romanadvoratrelundar!" she said firmly, this time with more force than the introduction.

"By the time I've called that out, you could be dead," he told her. "I'll call you 'Romana.'" This name would stick with her for the rest of her lives – but not that she didn't try to stop this from becoming so.

"I don't like 'Romana,'" she protested. _What gives him the right to change my name?_ She thought indignantly.

But the Doctor wasn't going to give up that easily. "It's either Romana or Fred!" he deadpanned finally.

"Alright, call me Fred!" Romana cried – she had no qualms with such a name, and admittedly, it would save a lot of Time.

"Good. Come on, Romana," the Doctor said, completely ignoring her protest about being addressed as such in a capricious manner. She merely rolled her eyes. _By Omega, no-one's ever managed to get on my every last nerve like this before,_ she thought. _I only hope we don't manage to kill each other out of irritation with the other..._

*DW*

**"Newton?** Who's Newton?" questioned Romana, when he casually dropped the name into the conversation.

The Doctor smiled in nostalgia. "Old Isaac. Friend of mine on Earth. Discovered Gravity. Well, I say he discovered it – I had to give him a bit of a prod."

"What did you do?" she smirked as she asked the question with mingled innocence and curiosity.

"Climbed up a tree."

"And?"

"Dropped an apple on his head," he finished.

"Ah, and so he discovered Gravity?" she asked, nodding her head. But the Doctor still managed to surprise her.

"No, no, he told me to clear off out of his tree," he admitted. "I explained it to him afterwards at dinner."

_Only you, Doctor, only you,_ she thought with an inward smile. He really was like no other Child of Gallifrey.

*DW*

**Agony.** That was what the energy that was ravaging Romana's body amounted to. But she hadn't tried to run from the Untempered Schism, and she wasn't about to cave in to torture now. Especially not with the entire Universe at stake. But –

"NO, NO, STOP, STOP!" shouted the Doctor. With those words, her surroundings came back into focus, and she realised what had happened.

"Doctor, NO!" Romana shouted at him. He couldn't give the Key to the Agents of the Black Guardian – if he did, the Universe was doomed to chaos. "Don't give in to him – it doesn't matter what happens to me!"

The Doctor was appalled by her words. "Well of course it matters!"

While Romana was touched, she was now truly afraid – afraid that the Doctor was going to give in and hand the Key over to the Shadow. But then she heard him speak telepathically to her. _I'm stalling for Time,_ he told her. But she wasn't assured – for even the most skilled negotiators could be made to cave in...

*DW*

**"I'll** set the co-ordinates for Gallifrey," Romana said, the Doctor holding the completed Key in his hands before placing it on the bench.

"Why Gallifrey?" he asked.

"Well that _is_ where we're going, isn't it?" Romana wondered what crazy thought had entered the Doctor's mind now. His next words began to unsettle her greatly.

"We have the power to do anything we like," he told her simply. "Every particle in the Universe that ever _has_ existed or ever _will_ exist. Are you listening to me, Romana?"

"Yes, of course I'm listen-" she began, but the Doctor cut her off. Now he was truly creating vibes of fear.

"Because if you're not listening, then I can make you listen," the Doctor said, his eyes rolling, his voice taking on a low, snarling tone. "As of this moment, there's no such thing as free will in the entire Universe. There is only _my_ will because _I_ possess the Key to Time."

Now Romana was really scared. What was going on? "Doctor, are you alright?!" she cried, alarmed at what turned out to be nothing but melodrama.

"Well of course I'm alright," the Doctor said, snapping out of it, "but suppose I _wasn't_ alright, eh?" He walked back to the Key and kneeled down, Romana slapping him on the arm. "If I could be worried about _myself_ feeling like _that,_ then you can imagine how alarmed I'd feel about _somebody else_ feeling like that. Do you understand?" He explained in a fast ramble.

"Yes," affirmed Romana, relief filling her binary hearts. "That the sooner we give this Key to the White Guardian..."

"...the better!" the Doctor joined in as he finished. Just then, the TARDIS Viewscreen activated to reveal a white-clad figure, one who gave off vibes of gravitas.

"My congratulations to you, Doctor," the white-clad figure spoke.

"Oh, thank you sir, it was a pleasure," the Doctor smiled, turning to Romana, "wasn't it a pleasure, Romana?"

Now she was worried. The President had told her that he would hand the Key to the White Guardian. What was happening?

"Doctor, that's not the President," she whispered fearfully.

"Who said anything about the _President?!"_ the Doctor questioned snappily. Thankfully, the white-clad figure had an explanation.

"I can...change my form...or appearance at will, my dear child," he told her. "I appeared to you as the President...so as not to alarm you." At last, it clicked in Romana's mind. The President had nothing to do with the assignment in any way. The White Guardian had given her the task!

"Just think who you're talking to!" the Doctor scolded her.

"Oh, _sorry!"_ Romana muttered resentfully, bristling internally with anger at being treated like a child.

"Again, my congratulations to you, Doctor," the White Guardian spoke to him. "You performed your task with admirable dispatch. You still have the Key, I trust?"

"Oh, we do, sir!" cried the Doctor happily. "And we're _very_ proud of it, aren't we Romana?!"

"Oh yes!" Romana joined in, nodding her head.

"Do you like it, sir?" the Doctor asked the Guardian.

"Do I _like _it? Yes," the White Guardian mused. "I suppose you could say I...like it."

"Good, good," the Doctor said. "Now, if I recall when we first met correctly, sir, you said that when the Key was assembled, it would stop the Universe and allow _you_ to restore the natural balances of Good and Evil throughout the...whole of the Universe?"

"Yes, Doctor," the Guardian confirmed. "So, will you release the Key to me that I may do this?"

"Oh, I certainly will, sir," the Doctor assured. He walked over to the Key and spoke loud and clear. "Er – Key to Time, I command that – hold on, sir, may I ask a question?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"It's just that the Key's already been assembled, so couldn't you restore the balances _now,_ sir?" the Doctor questioned.

"Yes Doctor, but I must have the Key – for safe-keeping," the Guardian explained. "It is an awesomely powerful Key."

"Oh yes, and mustn't be allowed to fall into the wrong hands," the Doctor finished for him. "I quite understand, sir." He once again announced, "Key to Time, I command that – hold on sir, what about the Sixth Segment?"

"What about it, Doctor?" asked the White Guardian.

"Well, as you know, sir, the Sixth Segment was in fact a Human being," the Doctor explained. "If the Key is maintained in its present form, she'll be imprisoned _forever,_ sir!"

"That is, of course, regrettable," the Guardian said, in an almost dismissive manner.

"Oh yes, _very_ regrettable-"

"But...with the fate of the Universe at stake..." the Guardian trailed off.

"Oh yes..." the Doctor said. "You can't be _too_ careful." He walked back to the Key again. "Key to Time...I command...that you stay _exactly_ where you are!" he shouted, turning to activate the defences.

"Doctor, you have fully activated all the TARDIS Defences!" cried the Guardian.

"We can't be _too_ careful, can we?" the Doctor returned, a forced smile on his face. "Or it'd be a terrible tragedy for the Universe...if it suddenly turned out I was _colour-blind!"_ Now Romana was utterly confused.

"Doctor, release the Key to me _immediately!"_ the Guardian shouted angrily.

"Unable to distinguish between the White Guardian and the _Black_ Guardian!" finished the Doctor, by way of explanation.

"Doctor, what's-" began Romana.

"LOOK!" the Doctor shouted, pointing to the Viewscreen.

She looked, and found that the Guardian was now clad in _black_ – the _Black_ Guardian, his face contorted with unbridled rage.

"You see? The White Guardian would _never_ have such a _callous_ disregard for Human life," the Doctor explained to her, and at last, Romana caught on.

"Of _course_ – _Astra,_ the Sixth Segment!" she cried in realisation. "He would've dispersed it immediately!"

"DOCTOR, YOU SHALL _DIE_ FOR THIS!" the Black Guardian screamed in an oath of vengeance.

*DW*

**"So** where are we going?" asked Romana morosely. Her first assignment away from Gallifrey had been a combination of terrifying, brilliant and exciting – something she wouldn't trade for anything in the Universe. The Doctor had made things a thousand times better – compared to her he'd been the life and soul of the adventures.

"I don't know," he replied, as though it were a trivial matter. This was what set Romana off.

_"You_ have absolutely _no_ sense of responsibility whatsoever!" she accused angrily, advancing on him in a full-on effort to lecture him.

"What?" the Doctor yelped fearfully, backing away against the TARDIS wall.

"You're _capricious, arrogant, self-opinionated, irrational,"_ she spat derogatorily, jabbing her index finger into his chest with each insult, "and you don't even know where you're _going!"_

_"Exactly!"_ the Doctor replied.

_"What?!"_ cried Romana.

"Well, if I knew where I was going, then there's a chance the Black Guardian would as well," the Doctor explained, "hence, this new device!"

"What is it?"

"Well, it's called a Randomiser, and it's fitted to the Guidance System and operates on a very complex scientific principle called 'Pot Luck,'" he told her, grinning at his own perceived brilliance. "Now, _no-one_ knows where we're going – not even the Black Guardian."

"Not even _us,"_ Romana added simply. The Doctor grinned at the thought – with the signature grin Romana was growing to treasure secretly...

*DW*

**These** days, Romana was at a complete loss as to how to get past any unresolved tensions between herself and the Doctor. The logical thing to do was hope he could change, but she didn't want him to – she'd miss the toothy grins and the carefree attitude that came with this incarnation of him.

_It's not the Doctor who needs to change,_ Romana thought. She began to think back to their earlier adventures together, and found, in retrospect, that she wasn't completely suited to his lifestyle, especially not with her icy attitude towards the aspects of life beyond Gallifrey. Something was going to have to change...

_And the easiest thing to change...could be myself,_ she realised, stumbling across the idea of voluntarily inducing a regeneration. She'd heard rumours about how rough a process it could be, but if it could resolve the tensions between her and the Doctor, she would do it.

Romana had also heard hearsay that voluntary regenerations allowed for some degree of control over the nature of the new form. She hoped this was true – for she didn't want to come off worse than when she met the Doctor.

_Wait...if I could influence my next body, then maybe I could influence its inherent personality!_ Romana thought, grinning. This was followed by a very cheeky idea. _Princess Astra looked rather nice...maybe I could surprise the Doctor this way..._

As she had been thinking all this, regenerative energy had built up inside her. By now, it had reached the point where it could change her body, and the regeneration began. Psychedelic Light, coloured crimson and violet, engulfed Romana's entire being, rearranging her whole cellular structure...the pain was immense, but she would not cry out...

And then it was gone. Her senses coming back into focus, Romana looked into a nearby mirror, taking in her new features, features that once belonged to Princess Astra. Romana was no longer a curly-haired brunette, and her eyes were no longer chocolate brown...she had a long mane of blonde hair, and green eyes were now where the brown had been. After a few moments, there was a shout from the Console Room.

"Romana!" the voice of the Doctor came into her bedroom.

_Great,_ she thought with an inward, mischievous smile. _Time for a few giggles..._

*DW*

**"What** are _you_ doing here?" asked the Doctor, frowning curiously.

"Regenerating," Romana whispered, smiling. "Do you like it?"

The Doctor circled around her once. "What do you mean?" He asked. "What are you talking about? Regenerating? Only Time Lords regenerate! Look, it's awfully nice to see you, Princess Astra..."

"Romana," she corrected him simply.

"Romana? Ah!" the Doctor cried in realisation.

"Aahhh-" croaked K-9.

"Shut up, K-9!" the Doctor snapped. His realisation turned into horror as he turned back to her. "What are you doing in that body?" he demanded.

"Regenerating, do you like it?" Romana asked, praying that he did – it had been painful regenerating, and she wasn't keen to go through it again any time soon.

"But you _can't_ wear _that_ body!" the Doctor cried in a whisper.

"I thought it looked very nice on the Princess," she muttered.

He sighed exasperatedly. "But you can't go around wearing copies of bodies!"

"Why not? We're not going back to _Atrios,_ are we?" she asked with a sigh.

"No," the Doctor conceded.

"Well, then..."

*DW*

**It** had taken trying on three other bodies before the Doctor would let Romana settle on the facsimile of Astra. In his own good-natured frustration, he'd told her to get rid of the 'silly' clothes she was wearing. She didn't even bother to tell him that he was wearing an exact replica of the outfit, and she put on a feminine replica of his outfit anyway.

*DW*

**Sometime** after arriving on the bleak and desolate planet called 'Skaro,' Romana found the Doctor digging up her faked grave frantically. She then appeared beside him, and after a moment, he noticed her.

"Romana!" he cried happily, laughing hollowly. "I thought you were _dead!"_

"Well it's lucky they didn't know I was a Gallifreyan, or I would've been," she said.

"Gallifreyan?" the nearby Human asked her curiously.

"Oh yes," she explained, "they taught me how to stop my hearts at the Academy."

"Hearts?!" the Human cried. "How many have you got?"

"One for casual, one for best!" Romana replied cheekily.

With that, the newly formed team set off Dalek-hunting...

*DW*

**Paris.** The Earth city that would always old a special place in her hearts. As the Time Lords, hand in hand, were bathed in the Light of the Parisian sunset, they locked their eyes together. A Human couple would have shared a kiss in the next few moments, but this was more personal, more...intimate. This was something only Time Lords could experience and truly comprehend the event afterwards. Romana knew, in her hearts, that she had fallen hard – there really had been no escaping it, ever since she laid eyes on the Doctor. And as she gazed into his wild, blue eyes, she could see he felt exactly the same way. Many Gallifreyan children hoped to become Time Lords, but very few Time Lords realised that a single moment could be a Universe in and of itself...

*DW*

**"Newton,** of course," Romana reminded him, after he'd broken into a ramble about the greatest Human thinkers, thinking back to their adventure on the Pirate Planet when he'd casually mentioned Newton's discovery of Gravity and his role in it.

"Oh," nodded the Doctor. "Definitely Newton."

"'For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,'" she quoted Newton's Third Law of Motion.

"That's right!" he called, a smile of pride on his face.

"So, Newton invented punting?" Romana surmised as a quip, quickly realising that punting was a perfect example of the Third Law.

"Oh yes," the Doctor confirmed. "There was no limit to Old Isaac's genius." Romana could only smile at the fond nickname he had given the widely-acclaimed Human Physicist.

"Isn't it wonderful that something so primitive," she hated to use that term to describe Humans in this incarnation, "can be so..."

"Restful?" the Doctor supplied, trying to help her find the word.

"No, simple," Romana settled for 'simple.' It was better than 'primitive' any day in the Universe. "You just push in one direction and the boat goes the other..."

*DW*

**Once** again in her lifetime, Romanadvoratrelundar was stuck between a rock and a hard place, at least as far as her emotions were concerned. She knew she had a less icy, bubblier relationship with the Doctor now, but she was afraid...specifically that she would rush headlong into something that she hadn't bargained for. She prayed with all vigour in both of her hearts that the Time Lords wouldn't call her back, but she knew that realistically it was only a matter of Time. What made it worse was she hadn't told the Doctor what she couldn't even admit aloud to herself...that she loved him...

Just then, there was a knock on her door, the Doctor just outside. Romana called for him to enter. He did so.

"Romana?" he asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"

She couldn't bring herself to tell him. "Nothing," she said quickly – too quickly now she thought back on this moment. "Everything's fine, just fine."

But the Doctor wasn't having it. "You can't fool me, Romana. I can tell there's something wrong."

"No there isn't," Romana insisted. "I told you – it's _fine."_ Her face carried a forced smile – a smile that the Doctor could see through easily. Though he'd never been good at correctly identifying personal issues, he could always tell when something was off about his travelling companions.

"Romana, stop-" he began, only to be cut off by an angry Romana.

"Stop _what,_ exactly?!" she spat fiercely. "Stop moping in my room because I know that one day the Time Lords will demand for my return to Gallifrey, in which case I'll probably never see you again?!" Her voice began to crack with mixed sorrow and frustration.

"Stop shutting yourself off to me!" the Doctor snapped finally. "I can't know what to do if I can't know how to fix this!"

"Never mind," Romana choked brokenly. Right now she was feeling too much powerful emotion – frustration at the Doctor for not identifying the issue, however undeserved it was; fear for the day when the Time Lords wanted her back; and finally, love – for him, the Doctor. Her next action would have her parents scolding her for behaviour unbefitting for a Time Lady such as herself.

"No, please, tell me-" the Doctor began again, to be cut off once again, this time by the feel of Romana's lips crashing down onto his.

Romana felt him return the emotion behind the kiss with everything he could muster at that moment. Both she and the Doctor held onto it as though it were the only link to the world of the living remaining to them. For an eternity, there was only Romana and the Doctor, _her_ Doctor, her Time Lord, locked together in an embrace which felt as though it had the power to stop Time itself. Eventually, however, they had to break off the kiss to give their respiratory bypasses a rest.

Romana then snaked her arms around the Doctor's back, and leaned forward to speak into his ear. "Stay with me," she whispered in a pleading tone. "Please, Doctor..."

"For you, Romana, always," he assured her, reaching to place his arms on _her_ back. The Doctor then moved to renew the kiss – this time with bolstered passion. Romana began to unfasten his waistcoat – the long coat and scarf having been left in the Console Room – and, after some clumsy fiddling, she threw it to the floor, before attacking the buttons of his shirt. The Doctor began patiently petting her, his hands underneath her nightdress, roaming across her back, eliciting faint moans from Romana's throat.

When she had concluded her attack on his shirt buttons, Romana graduated to his trousers, this time managing to unfasten them in one precise movement. Moments later, she felt his hands travel away from her skin and watched him struggle with his boots in an effort to remove them. Eventually, the Doctor succeeded, and rid himself of his socks whilst he was at it. Following that, he began to unbutton Romana's nightdress, each button leaving her feeling more open to him. She finally relieved herself of her nightdress, revealing her nearly naked body. Only her lingerie remained.

Catching up with her, the Doctor finally managed to remove his trousers, leaving only his boxer briefs. Romana had never felt this vulnerable, and she also felt a bit embarrassed. But just for this moment in Time, it didn't really matter to her.

She grabbed him by his back and pulled him down onto her bed, clawing at him as they fell. She then moved to roll the Doctor onto his back and pulled off the boxer briefs, leaving him completely exposed to her. He returned the favour, relieving her firstly of her bra, then of her knickers.

Now, this kind of private behaviour was not considered a socially acceptable practice on Gallifrey – but to paraphrase a Human finding an obvious loophole, this wasn't Gallifrey. Romana might have been able to fit in there, but the Doctor would never be able to, not by a long shot. So she wouldn't care what they thought of her – as a matter of fact, she never had; it was part of being her own person.

The Doctor reversed their positions – all the while being careful not to crush her – leaving Romana on her back, patiently waiting. She didn't have to wait very long, as the Doctor pushed into her, making her cry out in mixed pleasure and pain. _What's one without the other?_ Romana thought masochistically, before deciding to speak to him with her mind. _Please, Doctor,_ she pleaded to him. _Please...don't hold back..._

Her wish soon turned out to be his command, as the Doctor began to pull himself in and out of her body – Romana moving to join him, which caused him to groan in pleasure. This created an intense, erotic friction between his chest and her nipples, which were already rock-hard with desire. He evidently could not maintain this rhythm for long, for his pace began to quicken exponentially. Romana barely managed to keep up with him – she was struggling to co-ordinate her movements with him as what felt like an orgasmic fire built up in her belly. The sexual energy mounted up inside her as she pulled the Doctor down for a passionate kiss; all either of them could do was moan throatily as the desire between them became so powerful that...

They both came. The Doctor shuddered jerkily as hot liquid oozed into Romana's body, which triggered a powerful orgasm that had her letting out a muffled scream of pleasure. Her muscles tightened around him, as if demanding more, to which his body obliged by releasing more of his hot seed deep into her abdomen.

The Doctor's body collapsed from exhaustion, falling asleep on top of Romana's naked form. This, she now knew, would be a perfect way to cause one's own death if one was looking to die through suicide. With those thoughts, Romana sank into the world of her dreams...

*DW*

**_How_**_ can he be so nonchalant about this?_ Romana thought in frustration. Here she was, about to be forced to walk out of his life – possibly forever – and the Doctor didn't even have the heart to defy the Time Lords, as he'd done for all of his lives. As she was lost in her thoughts, her bedroom door opened.

"Do you mind if I come in?" the Doctor asked with a cough.

Romana's voice was melancholy. "The Time Lords want me back."

"Yes, well, you only came to help with the Key to Time," he tried to reason. But she wasn't going to have that – that didn't stop her from enjoying life away from Gallifrey after he'd installed the Randomiser to escape the Black Guardian.

"Doctor, I don't want to spend the rest of my life on Gallifrey!" Romana cried, her emotions overcoming her. "After all this!"

The Doctor couldn't bring himself to look into her eyes. "You can't fight Time Lords, Romana," he told her gloomily.

"You did, once," she told him – his defiance of the Time Lords was public knowledge on Gallifrey.

"And lost," he finished finally. The Doctor clearly wasn't prepared to go through a fiasco similar to the one that had him forcibly regenerated and exiled to Earth.

"Well...nothing more to discuss then!" Romana bit snappily.

*DW*

**"Psst!"** he whispered. "You are wonderful!"

"Wonderful?" she whispered back, heartwarmed by his words. "Really? Wonderful?" She paused thoughtfully as he nodded. "I suppose I am...never really thought about it."

*DW*

**"I'm** not coming with you," Romana informed him, her voice devoid of any emotion that was easily recognised.

"Inside! That's an order!" the Doctor told her in frustration.

"No more orders, Doctor. Goodbye," she held her ground, holding back the sadness in her hearts.

"What?!" he cried, and Romana could tell by the look in his eyes that his hearts were breaking. "What a moment to choose!"

"But it is, isn't it? A moment to choose...I've got to be my own Romana!" She remembered all those years ago at the Untempered Schism that she would never bend to anyone's will, not even those of her own people.

"And we need a Time Lord!" the Tharil added with a nod.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

The Doctor gave K-9 to her, telling her that he'd be alright behind the Mirrors. As Romana walked away, she heard him shout; "You were the noblest Romana of them all!"

*DW*

**Romana** almost couldn't believe it – the information that K-9 had handed to her was almost too much to bear. But one couldn't argue with the results before her eyes – that of her recently discovered pregnancy. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that her baby's father was the Doctor.

So now, she was freeing the Tharils while coping with a baby on the way. Romana hoped for only one thing with regards to her child – if it was going to be a boy, she hoped he would share some traits with his father.

In the years to come, after the Tharils were liberated, she would not find herself disappointed...

*DW*

**"Mother?"** asked Jonathan, her curly-haired, scarf-toting, youth-filled son. She'd decided to give her child an Earth name, to honour the Doctor's love of the planet.

"Yes, Jonathan?" Romana replied. Her son really could be quite a handful – as Humans said; "Like father, like son."

"Do you think Father's ever going to visit us?" Jonathan asked curiously. She hated lying to him about the subject – but she honestly didn't know, and she wanted her baby boy – _by Omega,_ she thought, inwardly smiling. _I've gone all Human Mother inside_ – to live in hope that his father would one day return to them.

"He might, Sweetheart," she told him hopefully. "He just might." Before she could say any more, she heard the wheezing groaning she had been longing to hear for decades – she hadn't been able to find the materials needed for any kind of interstellar travel, let alone travel in Space-time. Those resources were needed to help the Tharils escape enslavement.

But now, it seemed the Doctor had come back for them – only he would not be as Romana remembered him...

*DW*

**"Doctor,"** she said by way of introduction, breaking the silence.

"Romana," he replied tentatively. He had regenerated again – rewinding the image, Romana could see he'd done so four times since they'd last met. He now had the appearance of an Edwardian poet, clad in a dark green velvet frock coat.

"You look..." she struggled to find the word, "...dashing." She found it.

"You're still as radiant as ever," the Doctor returned with a smile.

"Thanks," she mouthed silently, before her voice came back. "What kept you?"

"What?" he questioned.

"You've regenerated four times – I can tell it's your seventh," Romana observed.

"I'm still a lover of Jellybabies, though," the Doctor quipped, at which they burst into laughter and moved to embrace one another. He was then about to bring her into a kiss when –

"Did someone say Jellybabies?" sounded a voice from around the corner – Jonathan's voice. He stopped when he caught sight of her and the Doctor. "Mother, who's that?" he asked, concerned as to what this strange man was doing with his mother.

The Doctor turned his head to Romana in surprise. "Mother?" he whispered.

"Jonathan," she struggled to tell him, unsure as to how her son would take the news, "he's your father. Your father's come back for you, after all these years."

Jonathan turned his attention to the Doctor, his eyes as wild as the fourth incarnation of his father's were when he had a shocking truth revealed to him. "Father?" he asked, his voice a mixture of hope and fear.

The Doctor paused. He was evidently struggling with the news that once again, he'd become a father. After an anxious, dreadful silence, he nodded. "Although, Jonathan, I think I'd prefer it if you called me 'Dad,'" he told him with a smile, before digging into the pockets of his frock coat and bringing out a paper bag. "Jellybaby, son?" he asked.

Romana watched as Jonathan ran to hug his father, almost crushing the wind out of him. She then rushed to join them both, trapping them in her arms. After the embrace ended, she turned her attention to her son.

"Jonathan, me and your father need some Time alone together, could you give us a few moments?" Romana asked of him.

"Yes, Mother," he nodded. He then turned away to go for a walk.

"And one more thing – call me 'Mum' from now on, OK?" she called after him.

"Yes, Mum!" he called back, his scarf being thrown either side of him by the breeze.

*DW*

**"You **and he are so very much alike," Romana told the Doctor, smiling, after Jonathan had left the two of them in peace.

"Is that an insult or a compliment?" asked the Doctor with a smirk.

"Both," she replied, her smile spreading across her face. "The 1st me may have thought you capricious, irrational and arrogant, but she thought you were incredible anyway. What makes you think I wouldn't?"

"Point taken," he conceded.

"Now then, Doctor," Romana turned to question him. "Are you just passing through, or have you come back for a reason?"

"The latter," the Doctor sighed resignedly. "And it's not a very good reason. I'm sorry to have to say this, Romana, but the Time Lords have gone to war – with the Daleks."

"Go on," she pressed expectantly.

"The High Council are now _demanding_ that you return to Gallifrey," he told her sadly.

"And you're going to take me back?" Romana whispered brokenly. But what he said next took her completely by surprise.

_"No way!"_ he cried, shocked that Romana would think such a thing. "I came here because I will not have any part in the Time War."

"Why not, Doctor?" she asked, curious as to why he would not fight the Daleks, considering their capacity for hatred of all other life forms.

"If I took part, I wouldn't be the Doctor anymore," he told her. "That's not all. You could say that right now, I'm considering settling down with _you."_

"Is this...going somewhere?" Romana asked.

"Yep," the Doctor replied, getting down on bended knee before her and pulling something from his pocket – something Romana recognised as a Necklace of Union. "Romanadvoratrelundar, will you marry me?"

"Doctor..." she whispered, a tear making a track down her cheek, her hearts racing by this point. Somehow, Romana had the feeling that had the Time Lords not called her back to Gallifrey, this would have happened on their travels together. But the past didn't matter at the moment. Here he was, _her_ Doctor, asking her to marry him! She did the only thing she could think of and kissed him passionately on the lips.

"That was the question I was hoping you'd ask on our travels, you dolt! _My_ dolt..." she chuckled tearfully. "Of course I'll marry you!" She returned to kiss him some more. _He's gotten good at this,_ she thought mischievously, as he returned it with all he had.

It wasn't the perfect moment for him to ask her, but late was better than never. This was the beginning of their life together...

*DW*

**...but** Romana and the Doctor should have known nothing would last forever. Right now she was a prisoner of the Daleks, twenty years running. This nightmare began with the death of Jonathan, who had died along with fifty other children. She could still remember that terrible day as though it were yesterday...

*DW*

**"NO!** NOT THE CHILDREN!" Romana screamed, pleading for the youngsters' lives, even though she knew it was no use – but she couldn't help it; they were about to kill her son. "PLEASE, NO! LET THEM LIVE! HAVE MERCY, I'M BEGGING YOU!"

"MER-CY..." the Black Dalek paused, considering the word. "I HAVE NO UN-DER-STAN-DING OF THE WORD. 'MER-CY' DOES NOT RE-GIS-TER IN MY VOC-AB-UL-AR-Y BANK. EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" it screeched the last word haltingly, its voice grating of hatred. At once, a Dalek Drone pointed its blaster at her son, and the hated sound rang through the air as Jonathan's skeleton was illuminated by the blast.

"NOOOOOO!" Romana screamed as she felt her hearts shatter into a thousand fragments. _My only son,_ she lamented, _my only son's blood...on the plungers of the Daleks!_ Screams rang through the air as the other children ran for their lives, only to be cut down mercilessly by the Daleks...

*DW*

**"No,** Romana, it's not the way!" the Doctor shouted after her pleadingly. But Romana had already made her mind up. There was no running from the Time War...not anymore. The Daleks had murdered their son and she would be damned if they got away with it.

"I'VE GOT TO!" she shrieked angrily at him over her TARDIS's Comm System. "THEY MURDERED OUR SON! _OUR JONATHAN,_ DOCTOR!"

"BUT THINGS AREN'T MADE BETTER BY TAKING REVENGE!" he yelled. "ROMANA, PLEASE!"

But Romana merely shut off the Comm and dematerialised, her TARDIS on course to Karn...

*DW*

**"What** do you need, Lady Romana?" questioned the Leader of the Sisterhood. "What do you wish to become?"

Romana only paused for a moment. "A warrior...I need to become a warrior, one who could command an entire race."

The Sisters handed her a chalice of Elixir, the legendary substance that could alter the course of regeneration. Romana needed to leave this incarnation behind, and become a woman with a greater force of will. Nothing else could fight in the Time War.

"Leave me," she commanded of the Sisters. Her eyes were now full of tears for her dead son and for her fiancé, who would never agree to this as long as he was the Doctor. _I'm sorry, Doctor, Jonathan,_ she thought finally. _I'm so sorry..._

Romana took a gulp of Elixir, and at once, the regeneration began. The psychedelic Light she had not seen since her travels with the Doctor engulfed her body for the second time in her life...this agony was even more intense, and this time, she _did_ scream. The last thoughts of her second self were of her vow to herself...to never bend to the will of another...now broken because she had allowed her hatred of the ones who murdered her son to rule her decision...

When the process was complete, only one thought was in her mind.

_Romana no more...only the Warrior Queen..._

*DW*

**She** was stuck...again. Rassilon had discovered her affiliations with the Renegades, and a number of them had given their lives to keep her safe, to no avail. She had lost both K-9 and Leela, and Rassilon had her imprisoned and tortured. She had no way out...

Just then, she heard footsteps, followed by someone entering her cell. She looked up to see who it was...and was shocked to see the face of her father...

"Father?" she croaked. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Romanadvoratrelundar," her father countered.

"Don't call me that, Father," she said brokenly.

"That was the name _you_ chose, Child," he reminded her softly.

"It's also the name I disowned," she replied. "I shouldn't be called that anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because with the name came a vow," she told him. "That vow was to never bend to the will of another. Though I didn't bend to another's will, I bent to my own hatred...which is worse."

"Explain. I'm struggling to understand," her father asked.

"Do you know what happened to cause me to become the Warrior Queen I am now?"

"No," he admitted. "Enlighten me."

"I had to watch the Daleks murder my-" she halted. This wasn't something she wanted to tell her father, especially considering the circumstances.

"Your what, Daughter?" he asked of her softly. "We're beyond the point to be getting angry."

"My son," she whispered brokenly, tears escaping from her eyes and making tracks down her cheeks.

"Riight..." her father trailed off. "And you went to Karn twenty years later to alter the course of your regeneration?" She nodded.

"With those actions, I disavowed the name 'Romanadvoratrelundar,'" she sobbed. "All because my blood and the blood of my fiancé are on the Daleks' plungers."

"Your fiancé?" her father asked. "Who's that?"

"The Doctor," she supplied. "Now, I want to ask you a question. Why are you here?"

"To get you out," he replied. "I want you to leave, hide and become our Romanadvoratrelundar again."

"I don't belong to anyone, Father," she chuckled hollowly. "I'm my own person..."

"And don't we all know it," he laughed quietly. "But please, Daughter, go. Go and get your fiancé back in your life. Go and be what every Time Lady should have aspired to be. Make the sacrifice worthwhile..."

"I suppose...for this moment...in this life," she whispered to herself, "I can be Romanadvoratrelundar again." Romana cried, hugging her father. "This might be a bit Human of me, but...I love you, Father."

He smiled. "I love you too, Child...now go, before the Chancellery Guard come back."

Romana set off, heading for TT Capsule Maintenance...

*DW*

**Once** inside her commandeered TARDIS, Romana could feel the regeneration kicking in. Rassilon had tortured her so badly for information – Zed Neutrino Energy, physical trauma, the lot – but she wouldn't give in to him. She quickly dematerialised the TARDIS, setting the co-ordinates for 20th Century Earth, and placed herself inside the Chameleon Arch. _Romana once again,_ she thought, before the Light erupted for the third time in her life and began rearranging her cellular structure...

When it was over, her _true_ 3rd incarnation stood where the Warrior Queen had once been, but she would not have Time to study her new body...the Chameleon Arch had been activated. Agony ripped through her newly-regenerated body like white-hot knives through flesh, and the last thing she remembered before beginning her existence in the Fob Watch of Frederica Shepherd was her vision fading into nothingness...


	8. Reunions & Taking Arms

Reunions & Taking Arms

**_I_**_ learnt many things on the last day of my life...that the Master had been manipulated into becoming what he was...that Personal Truth was what every life-form should treasure the most...and that I was the Human persona of a Time Lady. I am Frederica Shepherd no more...from this day forth, I am Romanadvoratrelundar once again..._

*DW* **_approximately an hour earlier..._** *DW*

**Wilfred** Mott was lost in hopelessness as he wondered the many decks and corridors of the Vinvocci Ship. If the only thing he could do right now was look for some form of hope, then he would look for the Doctor and Fred – or whoever she was. It had hurt to learn that Fred had not been born a Human, but was in fact a Time Lady who became a Human. He didn't know how he was going to explain this to Sylvia and Donna – that is, if he ever got to see them again in his lifetime.

"Hello?" Wilf called out. "Anyone? Doctor? Fred?" No reply came from any direction in the Ship. "I think I'm lost..." he trailed off.

"And yet you are found," said a voice from behind him. He turned around to see who was speaking to him – and found that it was the Woman. She continued when no words came from Wilf's mouth. "The lines of convergence are nearly drawn across the Earth."

Wilf felt a chill of foreboding tingle his spine. If he was to do something about the situation at hand, he would need to hear more.

"Tell me, Old Soldier," questioned the Woman. "Did you take arms?"

Wilf's reply was hesitant. "Well, I – I brought this," he stuttered shakily, pulling his revolver out for the Woman to see. "But – what am I supposed to do with it?"

"This is the Doctor's final battle," she told him sadly. "And he must take arms and stand with his beloved...or lose himself and all of this world...onto the End of Time."

"But – the thing with the Doctor is, h-he never carries guns," Wilf began to protest, before visiting upon a question that he needed answering. "Who are you?" he asked weakly.

The Woman's reply was cryptic, but it was also outlined by sorrow and grief. "I was lost...so _very_ long ago."

*DW* **_back to present Time..._** *DW*

**The** Doctor was struggling to fix the Ship's systems. It had been getting a bit cold with the Heating down, and he'd _really_ needed to keep everyone warm. After all, he might as well fix the necessary systems, as he'd been the one to bring them all down. He'd also decided to bring the Main Lights back on, so he could see a bit further in front of him when moving through the corridors of the Ship.

It was as he was doing all this that he felt it. The re-emergence of a Time Lady's mind. The Doctor had hoped she would be a friendly one...and he was not disappointed, for the Time Lady whose mind he touched was more than friendly. But he was unprepared for the shock he felt when he realised who it was...none other than Romana, _his_ Romana...

_I'm not yours, Doctor,_ her mind called out to him mock-frowningly. _And I'll hurt you so bad if you even think that again._

The Doctor could only smile inwardly. _Yep,_ he thought, obscuring his mind momentarily. _Definitely Romana..._

He dropped what he was doing and rushed to greet her. After years of hoping – and despite the sorrow he felt regarding Fred's fate – he was no longer alone in the Universe...

*DW*

**After** sprinting through a few corridors, the two Time Lords found each other. The Doctor caught sight of the Time Lady in front of him – she had the same essential facial features as her Human self, but she appeared younger than her. He speculated than when Fred opened the Fob Watch, she went through a biological reboot. This was what Fred had looked like when her life began – but she had remained radiant even after 37 years. Now, however, before him, stood a Time Lady with the apparent age of a Human young adult – and this Time Lady was Romana.

The Doctor felt tears threaten to overcome him. He was barely able to speak, so Romana initiated the conversation.

"Theta," she whispered, so quietly no-one else would have heard, her voice shaking with joy.

"Romana?" the Doctor whispered by way of reply, his voice cracking with both happiness and relief. She nodded, confirming his hopes. At once, he moved to embrace her, which she welcomed with a relieved chuckle. After a few moments that felt like a whole Universal lifespan, she stepped back.

"How do I look, love?" Romana asked him curiously.

"Absolutely ravishing," he gasped, taking a good long look at his fiancé. He then visited upon the fact that Romana was a ginger, and gave an exasperated sigh; "That's not fair!"

"What isn't fair, Doctor?" Romana questioned him with a cheeky smile.

"You're _ginger!"_ the Doctor cried in mock-outrage. "I've never been _ginger!_ How many times do I have to change to become a ginger?!" he finished with a rant.

Romana just laughed. "I think you only get one more go, love," she chuckled, giggling uncontrollably, "so I'd stop whinging about what you've never had. Besides, you've been auburn, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah," the Doctor sighed, before making one final protest. "But gingers are cool! Gingers are sexy!"

"So are auburns!" Romana cried assuredly. "I can remember looking at your 8th self and longing to give him a good snog!"

"Oh, so I'm not good enough for a snog like that anymore?" he whimpered in mock-hurt.

"Nah," she said in mock-thought, "I'd say you were good enough for..." she bent down to whisper in his ear, "...a good shag!"

"Romana!" the Doctor yelped, feigning outrage once again. "Just for using such language, you're not getting shagged anytime in the near future! Bad girl!" he finished with the air of a teacher scolding a student.

"Oh, pity me!" she cried, pretending to plead. This set them both laughing their heads off once again. "And I'm not a girl!" she scolded, her face still flushed red with laughter.

"Nah," he agreed, "you're the most ravishing Time Lady in the Universe!"

Romana blushed, turning a deep maroon. Her fiancé definitely knew which buttons to press. This version of the Doctor, his 10th self, not counting the Warrior, reminded her of _her_ first Doctor, his 4th self. Both of them had an insane sense of humour, both were charming, and both loved to talk too much. However, this one seemed more..._Human_...than the one she met in her 1st life. In her mind Romana was drawing parallels between her current self and the Doctor's current self. She too seemed to have become a bit more Human, and even bubblier than her 2nd self.

Eventually snapping out of these thoughts, Romana decided to remind her fiancé that they had more pressing matters, such as keeping the Vinvocci Ship inhabitable, and they both set off for where the Doctor was working previously...

*DW*

**Eventually,** Wilfred found the Doctor working on the circuitry of the Ship. But he wasn't working alone – Fred was working with him. But she looked much younger than before.

"Fred?" he asked, curiosity urging him to break the silence.

Fred looked up at him, shaking her head. Looking into her eyes, Wilf could tell there was something different about her. "Who are you?" Wilf questioned the strange woman before him.

"My name is Romanadvoratrelundar," she introduced herself, her voice devoid of any emotion. Wilf could only blink at this.

"Romanadvort – I'm sorry, what?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"You can call me Romana," the stranger told him kindly. "The Doctor made that name up when he told me my real name was too long."

"It was!" the Doctor called over to them both. "By the time I'd called your real name, you could have been dead. I had to call you Romana."

"Then I told him that I didn't like that name," Romana continued, sighing nostalgically. "He just told me that it was either Romana or Fred." The latter name reminded Wilf of a question he needed to ask her.

"So – you're the Time Lady, then?" he asked, struggling to keep up. "The one Fred had in her watch?"

"Yes," Romana nodded in confirmation. "I've been in that watch for 37 years. I had hoped to be in there for sometime longer."

"Why?" Wilf asked in confusion. "The Doctor's got you back. He's been alone, believing that the only other Time Lord out there was the Master. Now you're back, he's not alone."

"But at a cost," Romana deadpanned, stopping him from continuing any further. "The cost was Fred. Opening the watch caused her to become a part of me. My returning shouldn't have happened that way. Fred should have had the chance to live her life, whether a life on Earth or a life with the Doctor."

"Then why did you come back now?" Wilf asked, tears building in his eyes at the fact that Fred was gone.

"Because when the Master stepped into the Immortality Gate, he changed every Human on Earth, save you and Fred," Romana explained. "You were protected by the Nuclear Maintenance Cabinet, but Fred took the brunt of it – the only reason she didn't change is because she wasn't a run-of-the-mill Human. But she still had a link to the Master's mind – she could hear the drumbeat."

The Doctor stopped what he was doing at those words, realising what would have eventually happened to Fred had Romana allowed the drums to torment her. "Wilf, what Romana did for Fred was a huge favour – she stopped her from going insane."

"Speaking of which, Doctor," she said, turning to him. "I've analysed that drumbeat with my now-nonexistent link to the Master's mind. It isn't just a sound – it's a mind-parasite, which goes by the name of the Madness."

"What do you mean, Romana?" he asked worriedly. "What's the Madness?"

"The Madness works by merging with the mind of the Receptacle," she began. "That Receptacle was the child who would go on to become the Master. Once he heard the drums, the Madness had him ensnared in its power forever, with little hope of escape, while the parasite exploited all of his negative personality aspects, using them to grow stronger and eventually becoming dominant. Those moments of nostalgia the current incarnation has are only possible thanks to his regeneration inside your TARDIS."

Just as the Doctor was about to comment on that, the sound of Wilf's voice interrupted them. "Dawn over England," he called. "Look!"

"Boxing Day," Romana added.

Wilf then pointed to a country located in the region Humans called 'the Middle East.'

"1948, I was there," he told the pair of Time Lords. "Private Mott – a skinny little idiot I was then. I stood on the roof as bullets soared through the air – like the whole world had gone topsy-turvy."

"That's what war does – I should know, I was in one," Romana replied, "along with my fiancé." She inclined to the Doctor. "At first, we both hoped to never have a part in it – but-" she broke off, not wanting to go into detail about the death of their son.

Wilf nodded, not questioning further. If it was a personal matter, he wasn't going to pry. Then he added, "you probably don't wanna listen to an old man's tales."

"We're older than you," the Doctor said casually.

"Get away."

"I'm 906," he told Wilf.

"Unless he's lost count somewhere," Romana added, garnering a glare from the Doctor. "I'm nearly 300, give or take a few years."

Wilf could only stare in awe. "We must look like insects to you," he speculated.

"I think you look like giants," the Doctor told him. He then turned his gaze to Romana.

"I'm beginning to come to that way of thinking," she assured them.

Wilf then turned his gaze to the Earth. "My wife's buried down there," he said sadly. "I don't suppose I'll ever visit her again, now." He turned to the Doctor and Romana. "Do you think he changed them...in their graves?"

"We're sorry," Romana whispered, embracing him in an effort to console him.

"No, not your fault," Wilf told her.

"Isn't it?" asked the Doctor.

Wilf then reached into his pocket and showed the Doctor his revolver. "Listen, I-I've kept this, in case-" he began.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, pushing the gun away.

"But – if you take it, you-"

"No."

Romana then decided to join in the conversation. "You had that gun in the Mansion," she observed, taking the gun by the barrel. "You _could_ have shot the Master then and there, Wilfred."

"Too scared, I s'pose," Wilf sighed resignedly.

"And because of that, I'd imagine the Doctor would be proud," Romana told him comfortingly.

"Of what?" he asked her, confused.

"If you were his dad," she told him.

"Now don't start," he scolded hollowly. Something then occurred to him. "But – Doctor, you said; 'He will knock four times...' and then you'll die," he recalled. "Well, that's him, isn't it? That's the Master – he's gonna kill ya."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Romana told them fiercely. "I only just found my Doctor again – I'm not about to lose him."

"And that's the second part of the prophecy," the Doctor told Wilf and Romana. "'She will return to stand with her Doctor.' That part foretold the return of Romana."

"So," Wilf wondered, turning to her, "you're the one who's going to save his life?"

"I'd do that even if it wasn't foretold by a prophecy," Romana replied without hesitation.

"Then kill the Master before he can kill your fiancé," he told her, gesturing to the gun in her hands.

"And that's how the Master started," the Doctor cut in.

Romana was now feeling the fear for her fiancé's life mount in her hearts and threaten to overcome her. She had to convince him.

"Doctor," she turned to him. "Tell Wilf what will happen to all those people if the Master dies."

The Doctor's reply was resigned. "I don't know."

"Doctor, _tell him what happens,"_ Romana commanded through gritted teeth.

"The template snaps," he answered finally.

"You mean," Wilf cut in, "all those people – they're alive...and Human?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Exactly," Romana said, as if the matter were now closed. "So don't you _dare_ put that _monster_ before the whole of Humanity, Doctor, especially not the children." She took the Doctor's hands and placed the revolver in them. "Now listen to Wilf! TAKE THAT GUN AND SAVE THEIR LIVES!" she shouted, tears now breaking her control. "And don't die! Please! I love you and I don't want you to die!" Romana then wrapped her arms around him, now sobbing.

"Listen to her, Doctor!" Wilf cried. "Listen to Romana!"

The Doctor paused for only a brief moment before answering. "Oh, Romana," he whispered. He knew now that he had to tell her – he may never get another chance to do so. "I've wanted to tell you this for so long." Romana looked him in the eyes, tears glistening in her own. "I love you...and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before." She smiled a bittersweet smile. "But I can't do what you're asking of me. If I do that...I won't be the Doctor anymore."

But Romana wasn't going to give up that easily. "Do you remember when the Shadow tortured me for the Key to Time, Doctor?" she asked him through her choked tears. He nodded. "You told me that it mattered what happened to me. You should have realised by now – it cuts both ways. It _matters_ what happens to you. Now, if that doesn't convince you, then perhaps I should tell you that we have a problem on our hands."

But before Romana could expound upon this, a voice rang through the Comm System – a voice that belonged to the Master.

"A star fell from the sky," the Master said. "Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor," he continued, not waiting for a reply, "you as well, Lady Romana. The whole of my life...my destiny...has lead me to this. The star was a diamond...and the diamond...is a White Point Star!" Those words were the ones that confirmed Romana's worst fears – fears mirrored on the Doctor's face. "And I have worked all night to sanctify this gift...now the Star is mine. I can follow the link back...and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see?" Once again, the Master did not wait for an answer. "Keep watching, both of you. This is gonna be...spectacular! Over and out," he finished abruptly.

"That's the problem," Romana deadpanned.

"What's the problem?" Wilf asked worriedly. "Doctor...Romana, what's happening?!"

"A White Point Star can only be found on one planet, Wilf," Romana told him. "That planet is Gallifrey. The Time Lords are returning."

Wilf evidently didn't understand, as his next words indicated. "Well, that's good, isn't it? That's your _people!"_

But the Doctor and Romana knew differently. They had seen what their people had become in the last days of the Time War. They had seen the abject insanity of Rassilon...and the High Council's idiocy for following him. They knew he had to be stopped.

And the Doctor finally realised that to do that, he may have to kill. This wasn't about personal ethics anymore, but about the fate of the Universe, which was now hanging by a thread.

The Doctor, revolver in hand, and Romana, grabbing her handbag, sprinted off to the Bridge, Wilf right behind them...


	9. The Gate to Hell

The Gate to Hell

**The** Immortality Gate was prepared. The modifications had been full completed. All that remained for the Master to do was to link the White Point Star to the retrofitted transmitter and open the Nuclear Vault to maximum.

No-one was going to stop him from achieving his destiny this time, not even the Doctor or the recently-awakened Lady Romana...

*DW*

**Back** on the Vinvocci Ship, the Doctor, Romana and Wilf had reached the Bridge, where the Audio System was registering an incoming sound – a rhythm of four...

_One – two – three – four, one – two – three – four, one – two – three –four..._

"It's on every single wavelength," the Aide informed them.

"Calling all the way back into the Time War," whispered Romana. "Wilf..." she turned to him, "...welcome to Hell."

*DW*

**Had** the President been a less dignified person, he would have been leaping for joy. But he contented himself with an inward smile...

"Contact..._at last_..."

*DW*

**"We** have contact!" whispered the Master. His plan could not be averted now...if the Doctor and Lady Romana tried to stop him, they could be dispensed with easily by the UNIT defences...

*DW*

**"The** link has been established," announced the President. "And now, a vote must be taken...for this is the hour...in which either Gallifrey falls...or...Gallifrey RISES!" His last word was a shout.

_"GALLIFREY RISES!"_ yelled the High Council.

"GALLIFREY _RISES!"_ roared the President. _Perfect,_ he thought triumphantly. _Now nothing can stop the Ultimate Sanction..._

*DW*

**Wilfred** Mott was struggling to keep up with the two Time Lords in the room, who were still powering up the Ship. "But Doctor, you said your people were dead – _past tense!"_ he cried.

"In the Time War, trapped forever with no way out," the Doctor corrected, breaking off into a fast ramble. "The War was Time-Locked, sealed off by a bubble – well, it's not a bubble, just think of it as a bubble – which nothing can get into or out of."

"Nothing can get in or out – except something that was already there," Romana finished. At this, Wilf understood.

"The noise in his head – since he was a kid!" he shouted in realisation.

"Exactly – the Master has set up a Time Corridor which can allow the Time Lords to break out of the Time-Lock!" Romana told Wilf, urgency in her voice.

"Well, then!" Wilf cried in joy. "We can have a party!"

Romana shook her head. "Sorry, Wilf – no party this time," she deadpanned.

"But I've heard the Doctor talk about your people, like they're _wonderful!"_ Wilf protested, still struggling to understand.

"That's how I _choose_ to remember them, Wilfred," the Doctor told him sadly. "But then they went to war – a long war – and it changed them, right to the core."

"They lost any shred of decency they once had," Romana confirmed. "They became prepared to destroy the entire Universe to survive. You've seen the Doctor's enemies, Wilf – but the Time Lords are infinitely more dangerous."

"Time Lords?" interjected Addams. _"What_ Lords?"

Romana just sent a glare that said, 'no Time to explain,' and continued working. She then asked, "Addams, this is a Salvage Ship, yes?"

Addams just nodded.

"In which case, we have Asteroid Lasers," Romana told the others.

"Yes, but they're frazzled!" cried the Aide.

"Then consider them un-frazzled!" replied the Doctor. He then pointed to the Aide and asked; "You there, what was your name?"

"Rossiter," the Aide told him.

"Rossiter, I need you to man Laser One," the Doctor instructed, before turning to Wilf. "Wilf, Laser Two!"

"The Ship can't move – _it's dead!"_ Addams told him as though he were stupid. But the Doctor wasn't having such a defeatist attitude.

"I fixed the _Heating!"_ he cried, powering up the Navigational Control. "Romana, with me – I'll need you with me once we reach our destination!"

"This is _my_ Ship and you are _not_ moving it!" snapped Addams. "Step away from the Control!"

"Captain, there is an old saying...a saying of great comfort and consolation to the soul," the Doctor spoke dramatically, sending Romana a knowing look – _are you ready to say it with me?_ The Doctor asked telepathically; _sure thing, love,_ was the reply from his fiancé.

"What's that, then?" asked Addams.

The word that followed was shouted in unison by both the Doctor and Romana; "ALLONS-Y!"

With that, the pair of Time Lords, to use an Earth phrase, put the pedal to the metal on the Propulsion Systems of the Ship, causing it to hurtle at full throttle towards the Earth, where the Gate to Hell awaited them...

*DW*

**"The** vote has been taken," the President informed the High Council. "Only two stand against – and will serve as monument to their _shame!"_ He spat the last word like one would spit out a poison. "The Weeping Angels of Old..."

One of the shamed figures was the Lord of House Heartshaven – the father of Romanadvoratrelundar – and the other was Penelope Gate, the Human mother of the Doctor. It was as though those who were loyal to the President were not able to shame their respective children, so they targeted the next best thing...

_He truly is insane,_ thought Lord Heartshaven resignedly. _I can only hope Romanadvoratrelundar and the Doctor are prepared to stop this madman..._

_Be ready, Theta – be strong,_ thought Penelope sorrowfully. _I'm so proud of you..._

*DW*

**It** had taken a while for the Ship to reach the Naismith Mansion, and many hair-raising, scary near-impacts from the UNIT missiles.

"Doctor!" shouted Wilf. "You said you were gonna die!"

"He said _what?"_ cried a nonplussed Addams.

Ignoring her, Wilf continued. "Well, pardon me for asking, sir, but, is this it?!"

The Doctor just ploughed on. By now they were dangerously close to crashing into the Naismith Mansion. Romana now truly believed her fiancé was determined to cause his own death...

...but the impact never came. At the last minute, the Doctor pulled the Ship skywards, and then rushed to a nearby maintenance hatch, Romana beside him. He pulled out Wilf's revolver, opening the hatch, before giving Romana a stare as if to inquire her readiness. She nodded to confirm that she was prepared.

Together, they both jumped, falling unto the End of Time, with all determination and vigour. Moments later, the Doctor fell through the glass roof of the Mansion, Romana joining him momentarily. The two Time Lords were badly scarred by the glass, but their injuries were not overly serious. But the voice they heard not a few moments later spoke of the gravity of the situation.

"My Lord Doctor," smiled Rassilon, the tyrant who had deposed Romana as President of Gallifrey. "My Lady Romana," he continued, his gaze turning toward her, before finally settling on the only other Time Lord in the room, "my Lord Master...we are gathered...for the End. Incubus, restrain Lady Romana!"

Romana's hearts clenched with terror as the Incubus walked toward her.

"N-no!" she protested, petrified with dread. What that man had done to her whilst she had been a prisoner on Gallifrey was too terrible a tale to tell. "Keep away from-"

But she was cut off by the Incubus lifting her up by the cheek.

*DW*

**"We** are _not_ going in there!" snapped Addams.

"I AM _NOT_ LEAVIN' 'EM!" roared Wilfred. "LAND IT!"

With much reluctance, Addams prepared to land the Salvage Ship near the Naismith Mansion...

*DW*

**"Please,** listen to me..." the Doctor pleaded weakly. "You can't do this..."

Rassilon merely ignored him. "A fitting paradox that our Salvation comes at the hand of our most _infamous_ Child," he commented with a sneer.

Romana made a sound that, despite her current impediment, was easily recognisable as a snort of derisive laughter. "Like _Hell,_ he's helping _you,"_ she scoffed. "The Master always has his own agen-"

"Hey, NO, HEY!" shouted the Master. "That's _my_ line, Bitch! HUSH!" he finished with a snarl.

The Doctor bristled with indignation at his fiancé being called such a derogatory word, but restrained himself. They had more pressing matters at hand. The Master was now speaking to Rassilon.

"Look around – I've transplanted myself into every single Human being," he told the President, at which every Master Clone turned to face Rassilon. "But who needs a mongrel race like _them..._because _now,_ I can transplant myself into every single _Time Lord!"_ Rassilon just stared. "Oh _yes,_ Mister President, sir! Look at yourself standing there...all _noble_ and resplendent...and _decrepit_...think how much better you're gonna look..." the Master pointed to himself, "...AS ME!"

Rassilon lifted his Gauntlet, his left fist clenched. As he unclenched his hand, he released a wave of energy from the Gauntlet that had every Master Clone on Earth revert to being Human again.

"No, no, no, _no,_ NO!" shouted the Master. "STOP IT! NO! STOP IT!" But it was too late – every Clone in the room had reverted back to being Human.

"On your knees, Mankind!" commanded Rassilon. Every Human in the room did so.

The Master tried to salvage the situation. "Well, that's alright then, because you said _Salvation!"_ he called, pointing to the President. "I _still_ saved you...don't forget that!"

Suddenly the ground began to shake. In that instant, both Romana and the Doctor knew what was happening. Every Human in the room began to run as Wilf entered. He caught sight of a man trapped in the Nuclear Maintenance Cabinet and rushed over to let him out.

"No, Wilf, don't-" the Doctor tried to protest, but too late – he had already pressed the button that released the lock on the other door of the Cabinet.

_"I_ DID THIS!" yelled the Master. _"I_ GET THE CREDIT!" He kneeled, arms spread wide. "I'm on _your_ side!" he cried finally, but Rassilon just stared at him in disgust.

"The Approach begins..." he announced to the room.

"The Approach of _what?!"_ the Master demanded, frustrated at being kept out of the loop. But Romana, still trapped in the Incubus' vice-like grip, had the answer.

"Don't you _ever_ listen, you self-absorbed arsehole?!" she snarled. "'Something is returning!' Not 'someone!'"

"Like _what?!"_ the Master spat back, but Romana had been thrown to the floor by the Incubus. Luckily, it was the Doctor who had the answer for him.

"They're not just bring back the _species_...it's _Gallifrey!"_ he shouted angrily. "RIGHT HERE...RIGHT NOW!"

There was a brief moment of silence. But it was soon broken by the dread sound of cracking bone, followed by a pained scream from Romana – the Incubus had stomped on her knee, shattering it.

"LET HER GO!" the Doctor roared at his fiancé's torturer.

The Incubus pretended to consider, before shaking his head with an evil grin on his face. _"Nah..._I don't think I will," he sneered, before grasping Romana by the neck at lifting her up again.

"But...this is _good,_ isn't it?" the Master asked. "The Time Lords restored!"

"You weren't there...in the final days of the War," the Doctor told him darkly. "You never saw what was born...but if the Time Lords can escape, then that means everything's coming through...and not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations...the Horde of Travesties...the Nightmare Child...the Could-Have-Been King, with his Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres...and worst of all, the Madness, which reached back through Time and entered your head to torment you...to poison your mind into a weapon of insanity...and it was all born in the Time War...the War that turned into Hell! And that's what you released...right above the Earth...HELL IS DESCENDING!" he finished with a shout.

The Master merely shrugged. "You said yourself...I'm a Child of the War...so it's _my_ kind of world!" he cried.

"JUST LISTEN," roared the Doctor angrily, "BECAUSE NOT EVEN THE _TIME LORDS_ CAN SURVIVE _THAT!"_

"We will initiate the Ultimate Sanction," Rassilon cut in. "The End will come at _my_ hand...the rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex _apart!"_ he spat the last word with power in his voice.

The Master stared in blank shock at his insanity. "That's suicide!" he shouted.

But Rassilon wasn't going to stop there. "We will ascend...to become creatures of _consciousness_ alone...free of these bodies...and Time...and cause and effect...while Creation itself ceases to be!" he finished, grinning insanely.

"Do you see?" Romana struggled to speak. "That's what they were planning in the last days of the War. The Doctor had to stop them."

"Then..." said the Master, "...take me with you, Lord President. Let me _ascend_...into _glory!"_ But Rassilon just sneered.

"You are _diseased,"_ he snarled hatefully, "albeit a disease of our own making..._no more!"_ With those words, he raised the Gauntlet to kill the Master...

But he was cut off by the sound of the revolver's hammer being pulled back – the Doctor was now up on his feet, pointing a gun at Rassilon. Before the Incubus could react, Romana pulled the staser from his pocket and squeezed the trigger. The evil Time Lord fell to the ground with a blood-curdling scream, while his victim sprawled onto the ground with a yelp of pain as she stumbled over her broken leg. She too was pointing a weapon at Rassilon.

"Choose your enemy well – we are many!" he told them. "The Master is but one..."

"But he's the President!" interjected the Master. "Kill him, and Gallifrey could _yours,_ Doctor...with Lady Romana at your side!"

At this, the Doctor turned the gun on his long-time enemy, but Romana kept the staser trained on Rassilon. "You should know by now, _Master,"_ she spat irritably, "that such ploys don't work on him!"

And Romana was right – the Doctor was an avid resistor of temptations of power. It was an unwritten condition in his vow – _'Never cruel nor cowardly...never give up...never give in...'_

But the Master just couldn't stop talking. "HE'S TO BLAME, NOT _ME!"_ he shouted desperately. Then his mind visited upon a fateful thought. "Oh right...the Madness is inside my head. Kill _me_...the Madness dies, the link gets broken, they go back." He stared the Doctor in the eye. "You never would, you _coward!"_ the Master snarled in disgust. "Go on then, the both of you! _Do it!"_

The Doctor paused only for a moment. Then he trained the gun on Rassilon once again. "Exactly!" exclaimed the Master. "It's not _just_ me, it's _him!_ HE'S THE LINK! _KILL HIM!"_

"The final act of your lives...is murder..." Rassilon taunted the Doctor. "But of which one of us?"

The Doctor lowered the gun ever so slightly and turned to his fiancé. _Romana,_ he pleaded through the telepathic link, _when he called for the Incubus to restrain you, you froze. Why?_

_Now's not the time, Doctor,_ Romana told him forcefully.

_Tell me, please! Now!_ The Doctor implored. _What did he do?!_

_Fine!_ Romana snapped._ When Rassilon realised he couldn't get any more information out of my mouth, he told the Incubus to...to..._

She broke off haltingly, not able to complete the sentence. But the Doctor had heard enough to know what happened. Romana...his wonderful Romana, his _fiancé, _had been violated in the worst way imaginable. Hatred boiled in his veins as he once again raised the gun at Rassilon.

Then both Time Lords were each distracted by a face they never thought they'd get the chance to see again. Romana gazed into the eyes of her father, Lord Heartshaven, and she could see the pride is his eyes and his smile. But she didn't need to smile back – all of the emotion she felt at that moment in Time was in their telepathic conference...

_I love you, Father,_ Romana whispered out to him sorrowfully.

_I love you too, my Princess,_ he whispered back. _Make sure that Doctor of yours treats you as you should be..._

_Don't worry, I will,_ she assured him, chuckling. With that, she closed off the conference.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was staring into the eyes of his mother, Penelope Gate. As she was a Human, telepathic conference was not possible. But for the Doctor, being half-Human, such a conference was not necessary – the words were in their eyes...

And it was then he realised. He didn't have to kill the Master _or_ Rassilon – he was here to shut off the Time Corridor, which was powered by the modified Immortality Gate.

_Romana?_ The Doctor called out in his mind.

_Yes, Theta?_ Romana replied.

_Turn the staser to the machine,_ he told her.

With that, both Romana and the Doctor turned their weapons in the direction of the Master. The Master steeled himself for death – it was better than a continued existence where the Madness tormented him, courtesy of the President. He waited painfully for the other two Time Lords to fire their shots, when...


	10. The Passing of the Storm

The Passing of the Storm

**"Get** out of the way," the Doctor told his oldest foe. After a short pause, the Master smiled, before throwing himself to the floor. As soon as he was down, both the Doctor and Romana squeezed the triggers on the weapons they held in their hands, firing a bullet and a staser bolt, respectively, into the Generator that powered the Time Corridor, which promptly exploded. At once, the ground began to shake again, and every Time Lord in the room knew what had happened.

"THE LINK IS BROKEN!" the Doctor bellowed. "BACK INTO THE TIME WAR, RASSILON! BACK INTO HELL..."

"NEVER TO RETURN!" Romana finished with a yell.

Around them, the Time Lords could hear the voice of the Visionary, screaming in despair; "Gallifrey _falls!_ GALLIFREY _FALLS!"_

"YOU'LL DIE WITH ME, DOCTOR, AND YOUR BELOVED WILL WATCH _EVERY SECOND!"_ Rassilon roared, now utterly consumed by his hatred, especially his hatred at the Renegade Time Lord who stood before him.

"I know," the Doctor replied, resigning himself to his fate. He watched Rassilon raise his Gauntlet – and he knew that a death brought on by that weapon would permit no regeneration. He took one last look at Romana, and it was then he realised – it had been foretold that she would ease his passing. The Doctor waited for oblivion to engulf him, when...

"Get out of the way," said the Master, now back on his feet with a murderous look on his face, and his hands clasped together.

"DOWN!" screamed Romana, pulling the Doctor to the floor. Instantly, the Master threw his right hand forward, launching an energy bolt at Rassilon, who stumbled back in pain.

_"YOU_ DID THIS TO ME!" the Master bellowed, vengeance thundering in his voice. _"ALL OF MY LIFE!"_ He threw out his left hand, following through with another bolt. "YOU MADE ME!" He continued the throw the bolts with Inhuman ferocity, his skeleton becoming illuminated once again. "ONE! TWO! _THREE!_ FOOOUUUURRRR!" The final word was a scream of unbridled rage. Rassilon finally collapsed, but the Master didn't stop. He continued to fire the bolts as the Light from the Time Corridor engulfed him before the Corridor itself vanished completely, leaving nothing behind.

Moments later, the ground had stopped shaking. Romana knew instantly that this was an effect of Gallifrey disappearing. The Ultimate Sanction would never take place now...for whether by the fires of the Moment, or the hand of the Master, Rassilon would be dead. She turned her eyes to the Doctor, whose face was plastered with mixed relief, shock and disbelief, and crawled over to him, still not able to stand, courtesy of the Incubus.

"I'm alive," he whispered hollowly. "I'm alive!"

"Yes, you are," Romana told him, nodding. "I believe Fred told you to have some faith that you'd survive?" She asked him, raising her eyebrow in a manner very reminiscent of her 1st self.

The Doctor chuckled weakly, Romana soon joining him as she pulled him into an embrace. But their happy moment was spoiled by the sound the Doctor had hoped never to hear again...

_Knock, knock, knock, knock..._

Their faces fell. Both Time Lords knew what that sound represented. The knocks rang out again. Romana's hearts seized. _Please,_ she pleaded to herself. _Not now..._

"They're gone, then?" Wilf asked, hesitantly breaking the silence. "Great, well – if you could, er, let me out?"

"Yeah," the Doctor gasped weakly. _Oh well,_ he thought brokenly. _It just had to come one way or another, didn't it?_

"Er – this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise," Wilf pointed out tentatively.

"The Master...left the Nuclear Vault running," Romana explained, trying her best not to let the tears overcome her. "His modifications to the Gate...damaged the Nuclear Containment Unit."

"And that's bad, is it?" Wilf asked them.

"No," the Doctor continued Romana's explanation. "Because all the excess radiation gets vented through _there_..." he inclined his head to the Cabinet. "All 500,000 rads, about to flood _that_ thing."

"Oh," Wilf muttered, ashamed that he'd got the Doctor into this situation. "Guess you'd better let me out, then."

"Except, it's gone critical," the Doctor finished finally. "Touch _one_ control, and the _whole_ system floods." He pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver.

"Even the Sonic would set it off," Romana added ruefully.

Wilf could feel the shame overcoming him. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," the Doctor replied.

"Just leave me," Wilf said weakly. He didn't have much more Time in the world of the living anyway.

The Doctor smiled a hollow smile, before breaking down into a rant. "Oh, alright then, I will!" he spat angrily. "Because you _had _to go in there, didn't you?! You _had_ to go and get stuck, _oh yes!_ Cos that's who you _are,_ Wilfred – you were always _this_ – waiting for me."

"No, really, just leave me," Wilf told him. "I'm an old man, Doctor – I've had my Time."

"Well exactly! Look at you!" the Doctor exclaimed, the instincts of selfishness kicking in. "Not even _remotely_ important!" He turned to look into Romana's eyes, before continuing to whine. "But me...I could do so much more..._so much more!_ I could have married Romana while I was still _me!"_ he cried finally. "But this is what I get...my reward...AND IT'S NOT FAIR!" He screamed the last four words, and then gasped in horror at how callous he'd just been. If he walked away, the Doctor would cease to be...again, this time in a very permanent fashion. "I've lived too long..."

"No..." Romana pleaded, tears spilling from her eyes. She'd only just got him back...and now she was about to lose him again...sure, the Doctor could regenerate once more, but _he_ wouldn't be the same man. "Don't do this to me...please..."

Her fiancé turned to look her sadly. Then she heard him in her mind. _I love you, Romanadvoratrelundar,_ he told her. Something in his voice soothed her, and she knew that he could not walk away from a man who needed help.

_I love you too, Theta Sigma,_ Romana whispered back. With that, the conference closed off, and the Doctor began to walk toward the Cabinet.

"No," Wilf pleaded desperately. "No, please, don't! PLEASE, DON'T! Please..." He broke down into tears at the fact that he had been the reason the Doctor was going to die...but the Doctor just kept walking.

"Wilfred..." the Doctor told him, "...it's my honour." He steeled himself for the pain that he was about to subject himself to. "Better be quick!" He stepped into the other Cabinet and prepared to press the release button. "Three – two – one – go!"

Wilf made haste to exit the Cabinet. Merely a second after the Doctor pressed the button, the Cabinet was flooded with the fatal radiation. Every nerve in his body was aflame – the agony seared so much that he had to stifle a scream. Romana couldn't bring herself to watch her fiancé endure so much pain – she knew that she'd rush into the Cabinet herself if she did, broken leg be damned, and she also knew the Doctor wouldn't want her regenerating as well. She could only hear him scream in agony – while her hearts broke...

And then...silence. The Doctor's cries of pain had stopped...and so had the dreadful, droning Sound from the Generator. The Gate had vented every last rad into the Cabinet. After a long pause, he finally stood, Romana's hearts soaring at his still being alive.

"Still with us, then?" Wilf asked.

"The Nuclear Vault's burnt out," the Doctor replied. "The whole thing's kaput..." He opened the door. "Oh yeah, _now_ it opens," he muttered sarcastically as he stepped out.

"Mind you, you've got some battle scars there," Wilf remarked, pointing to the Doctor's face. In response, the Doctor ran his hands over his face. After he'd done so, the scars had faded. Wilf could only stare in awe.

"It's happening," the Doctor told the other two. "I'm regenerating...but not yet."

"What do you mean, Doctor?" Romana asked. "You shouldn't really hold it back, you know." Her fiancé just smiled and walked over to her. He then placed his hands on her knee – at once, she felt it repair itself with a crack, garnering a yelp from Romana. The Doctor helped her to her feet.

"Come on," he said, still smiling. "We need to get Wilf home."

"That's what's worrying me, love," Romana told him. "How am I going to explain this to Sylvia? Because Fred told me that Donna deserves to know what had happened to her godmother."

"You can't!" the Doctor told her firmly. "If she remembers-"

"Her mind will burn, I know," she replied. "But I think I have a way for her to remember safely."

"How?"

"You said that Donna had undergone a two-way metacrisis, yes?" The Doctor nodded. "Well, in her brain are two incompatible minds trying to interact. The excess Bioelectrical activity in her brain has to be stabilised – or extracted."

"You mean..."

"I can help Donna's brain adapt, or I can remove the knowledge from her mind completely – not anything she witnessed or experienced, just the part of her that's your mind," Romana confirmed. At this, both the Doctor and Wilf's faces lit up with joy and relief. They brought her into a bone-crushing hug.

When it was over, the trio headed back to the TARDIS...

*DW*

**The** TARDIS materialised outside the Noble residence. As soon as the Doctor, Wilf and Romana stepped out, they were greeted by the smiling face of Sylvia Noble. The trio walked toward the house to explain what had happened.

"Dad!" cried Sylvia. Almost instantly, she broke off into a ramble. "Did you see what happened? Everyone started seeing Harold Saxon in their heads, and then there was this great big planet in the sky-"

"We know," interjected Romana. "We were right at the root of the problem, Sylvia."

"Fred!" Sylvia reached to hug her, but she shied back when she noticed something was off about her friend. "Wait a minute Fred; you look as young as you did when I first met you. As young as you were in 1972."

"Oh my..." Romana gasped, with tears in her eyes. "This is harder than I thought..." She regained her focus after a few moments. "Sylvia, you remember that I always carried a watch, yes?"

"Well...yeah, you never let anyone else hold it," Sylvia answered uncertainly. "Why do you ask? Fred, what's happening?"

"I'm sorry, but..." her friend trailed off, before getting her resolve back. "I'm not Fred."

"What do you mean? How can you not be Fred? Stop it..."

"It's true, Sylvia," Wilf cut in brokenly. "Remember how you never visited her parents?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, she didn't have parents," her dad told her, and Sylvia could tell he was perfectly serious. "The thing is...she _was_ Fred...or Fred was her...it's too hard to explain..."

"Fred was who I might have been, had I been born a Human," Romana took over for Wilf.

"You mean...Fred was an alien?" Sylvia asked, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"No, Fred was completely Human," Romana told her Human self's best friend. "But I became Fred in 1972. I'm the reason Fred never left her watch anywhere."

"It's...difficult, but...she was in the watch, Sylvia," Wilf told his daughter. "She's a Time Lord..."

"Time Lady, in my case," Romana cut in once again.

"Like the Doctor?" Sylvia asked, tears now cascading. The strange woman before her nodded. "But where's Fred gone?"

"She became part of me again," Romana answered, her voice cracking from with remorse.

Sylvia's eyes became questioning. "Then who are you?" she demanded.

"My name is Romana," the strange woman – Romana – told her.

"And why the name 'Fred?'" asked Sylvia.

"Because," the Doctor joined in the conversation for the first time, "when Romana first began her travels with me, she told me she didn't like the name 'Romana.' I told her that it was either 'Romana' or 'Fred.'"

"I don't think I want to use the name 'Fred' anymore, Doctor," Romana told him sadly, turning to look at him. "Not when she was so much a better person than I ever will be." She turned back to Sylvia. "There's one more thing. Donna's not allowed to remember anything about the Doctor, yes?"

"Yeah," Sylvia nodded, wondering where Romana was going with this. _Could she help Donna?_ She thought hopefully.

"Well, my last promise to Fred was to find a way to help Donna remember safely," Romana told her sincerely. "Because Donna deserves to know."

"But – the Doctor said-" Sylvia protested, but Romana cut her off.

"Rule one, Sylvia – the Doctor lies," she told her in a knowledgeable manner. And despite the knowledge that her best friend was gone, Sylvia couldn't help but crack a weak smile. With that, the foursome headed inside, Romana reminding the Doctor to stay out of sight until it was safe. Wilf, Sylvia and Romana found themselves greeted by Donna and Shaun.

"I've missed out on something again, haven't I?" Donna cried in exasperation. "Am I cursed, or is it bad luck?"

"Well," Romana told her, "do you want the scoop on what happened, Donna?"

"Sure," Donna replied, nodding. At this, Romana asked her to keep still, slowly raised her hands to Donna's head, and the conference began. Both Donna and Romana were absolutely still the whole time their minds were linked. After a minute or two, the conference ended, and they both relaxed.

"Did that stupid bloody Spaceman wipe my mind?!" Donna shouted in outrage.

"Oh, hello there! Sorry about dropping in like that!" rang the voice of the Doctor, who had now entered the living room. Donna just stood up, walked over to him, and slapped him hard on the cheek.

"Did you enjoy doing that, Martian-Boy?!" she snapped. This anger soon faded into mixed grief and relief. Shaun, Sylvia and Wilfred were puzzled.

"Donna?" Wilf asked her. "You alright, Sweetheart?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's just..." Donna trailed off, before finally answering. "I'm sad that Auntie Fred's gone...but at the same time, I'm happy that the Doctor's got Romana back." She paused before continuing. "And by the way, Doctor...you wanna do _what_ to her?!"

Everyone burst out into hysterical laughter – everyone save the Doctor, who blushed deep maroon, and Romana, who smirked at her fiancé. This was enough for the both of them, so they changed the topic as everyone stopped laughing.

"Right, well," the Doctor began, still blushing red. "Romana and I had best be off – we still have a lot to do. Keep an eye out, you guys – especially Donna and Wilf; this isn't goodbye yet." He and Romana headed towards the front door.

"But Doctor," Wilf asked. "Where are you and Romana gonna go?"

The Doctor turned, and paused before giving an answer. "To get my reward..."

With that, the pair of Time Lords headed back for the TARDIS – and Romana knew, somehow, that he had some goodbyes to make to the friends he'd made in this life...


	11. Valete Liberi Temporis

Valete Liberi Temporis

**As** soon as the two Time Lords were back in the TARDIS, Romana headed straight for the TARDIS Wardrobe. Since the Doctor was about to regenerate, he almost certainly wouldn't like pinstriped suits any longer, and she couldn't live with the reminder after _this_ Doctor had gone. Besides, her outfit was ruined as well, so she might as well slip into something newer. This also gave her the chance to form her own opinion of her new body, as she hadn't really had the Time to study it, due to her confinement to her Fob Watch following her regeneration.

*DW*

**"How** do I look?" Romana asked her fiancé, after deciding upon a matching golden brown pinafore dress and blazer, a dark moss green blouse, a bluebonnet pantyhose and black court shoes, underneath which lay her dark violet lingerie. The Doctor took one look before he gasped; "Absolutely ravishing!"

"Thank you," she whispered smiling. Romana then decided to change the topic to the farewells the Doctor had to make. "So, who are we saying goodbye to first?"

"First stop, Martha Jones and Mickey Smith..."

*DW*

**The** Doctor and Romana found Mickey and Martha being hunted down by a Sontaran Sniper. It looked like the pair of Humans had gone freelance. After a while, the Time Lords located the Sontaran – the Doctor walloping him on the back of his probic vent and Romana stomping on it for good measure. He wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.

Eventually, Martha and Mickey caught sight of them. When their gaze focused on Romana, Martha sent the Doctor a text on his phone. It read; "Who's that?"

The reply was as follows; "Her name is Romana, the only other Time Lord now left in existence." At this, Martha gasped and showed Mickey, who frowned curiously.

With that, the two Time Lords moved onto the Doctor's next farewell...

*DW*

**The** Doctor narrowly rescued Luke Smith, the adopted son of Sarah Jane Smith, from being run down by a passing car. Luke recognised him from the Subwave Network conference and began calling for his mother. Soon enough, Sarah Jane caught sight of the Doctor, who could only stare a meaningful stare. At once, she knew what was going to happen – this would be the last time she saw the 10th Doctor.

After a few moments, he walked back into the TARDIS and dematerialised; he had a Captain to say farewell to...

*DW*

**Romana,** using her Temporal sense, knew at once that something was..._wrong_...with the man sitting on the other side of the bar, but thought it best not to argue at this moment. The Doctor had sent a written note to Jack Harkness; "His name is Alonzo...," referring to the person sitting beside him. After that, they left him to his flirting...

*DW*

**The** Doctor returned to the TARDIS holding a book called, _The Journal of Impossible Things,_ which piqued Romana's curiosity.

"What is it about?" she asked.

"A man called John Smith," the Doctor replied stoically. "The person I became when I had to hide from the Family of Blood."

Romana gasped at that – she had heard from other Time Lords just how dangerous those sadistic, psychopathic parasites were. And evidently, it was a sore topic for her fiancé, so she didn't question further. "Right then," she said. "Next..."

*DW*

**Donna** Temple-Noble caught sight of her best friend, the Doctor, talking with her mother and her grandpa, and asked her other friends and her husband to give her a few minutes. After a few rather awkward moments, she broke the silence.

"Gramps told me what's gonna happen," she told them. "Doctor, tell me you're gonna be fine."

The Doctor just nodded, so Romana gave the proper answer: "He'll be fine, Donna," she assured her, no trace of emotion in her voice. "But he won't be _this_...," she gestured to her fiancé, "...anymore."

Wilf took the chance to speak up. "The thing is, Doctor," he began. "That woman...who was she?" When the Doctor remained silent, Wilf turned to his fiancé. "What about you, Romana? Who was that man...the one covering his face?" She too was silent as she locked eyes with Wilf. Then the Doctor changed the topic.

"The thing is," he said to the Nobles, reaching into his pocket, "I never carry money, so I just popped back in Time and borrowed a quid off a very nice man..." He paused. "Geoffrey Noble, his name was." At this, Donna and Sylvia could only stare in blank shock. Finally, he pulled out the lottery ticket and handed it to Donna. "'Have it,' he said," continued the Doctor. "'Have it on me...'"

Donna could only stare at the ticket in her hands as tears rolled down her cheeks. Eventually, she came to a realisation. "Triple rollover this week..." she choked.

Romana nodded. "Fred was lucky to have you as a goddaughter, Donna..."

This reminded Donna of a question she needed answering. "But Romana, you never told me something..."

"Yes?" the Time Lady asked.

"Why did you help me remember?" Donna asked curiously.

Romana paused before answering. "Because Fred wanted you to know why you weren't going to see her again...it was my last promise to her." At this, she steeled herself for any verbal abuse.

But it didn't come. Instead, Donna pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "Goodbye, Romana..."

"Goodbye, Donna...the noblest Noble of them all," replied Romana, tears in her eyes. Donna chuckled.

"Romana?" came the Doctor's voice from behind her. "It's time to go..."

"Yeah..." Romana said, breaking off the sisterly embrace with Donna. "Do you want us to visit sometime?" she asked her new friend. Donna nodded. "Okay...goodbye for now..."

With that, the Time Lords headed back to the TARDIS...

"Just one more," the Doctor told Romana. "This one I really need to do..."

"Who?" she asked curiously.

"A woman called Rose Tyler," he responded. "She's in..."

"...another Universe, I know," Romana finished. Then a thought visited her. "You're going to go back in Time for this, aren't you?"

The Doctor merely nodded and set the controls for a point in Time before his 9th self met Rose Tyler...

*DW*

**The** Time Lords were leaning against a wall in an alleyway on the Powell Estate. As Rose passed by, the Doctor gasped in pain – and Romana knew it was because he had been holding it back for this moment.

"You alright?" Rose asked him, turning to the pair.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied.

"Had a bit too much to drink?" she guessed.

"Yep," Romana cut in. "He's been on a New Year's binge." She'd taken the opportunity to read the paper and found out that it was New Year's Day. But she'd decided to let the Doctor guess.

"Well...Happy New Year, both of you," Rose told them, smiling before turning to head inside.

"What year is this?" asked the Doctor, calling after her.

She turned. "Blimey, how much have you had?!" she cried, stifling a laugh. "January 1st, 2005..."

"Right..." the Doctor trailed off, before continuing. "Tell you what...I bet you're gonna have a great year..."

Rose smiled uncertainly. "Well...Happy New Year!" she told them again, before turning to head back inside.

"You as well!" Romana called after her. The Doctor had told her the story of his Time with Rose Tyler, and she had accepted the explanation the he'd thought Romana was dead, so she let it drop.

Suddenly, the Doctor gasped out in pain again. The regeneration could no longer be held back...it was now the moment of the Farewell of the 10th Doctor...and Romana would be by his side all the way...


	12. Vale Decem

**A/N: The lyrics of 'Vale Decem' belong to Murray Gold. Check up 'Vale Decem' on YouTube if you haven't heard it before - it really is worth a listen.**

* * *

Vale Decem

**The** Doctor began to stagger back to the TARDIS, which was parked in the street, Romana closely following him. After a few arduous hauls, her fiancé collapsed from exhaustion, his form sprawled in the snow. She rushed to help him up. "Almost there, love," she assured him. "Just a bit further..."

But as the Doctor lifted his head, he became transfixed into a stare. When Romana looked to see _what_ he was staring at, she saw a being with a squid-like face on a humanoid body – a life-form she recognised as an Ood, only one that had a spherical implant.

"Doctor, do you know this person?" asked Romana curiously.

He nodded. "His name's Ood Sigma..."

Suddenly, Sigma's sphere lit up, and a voice emitted from him. "We will sing to you, Doctor," he told them solemnly. "The Universe will sing you to your sleep..."

It was then that Romana heard it – she heard a telepathic song in her mind...and she knew it was one of gratitude and mourning...

*DW* **_...on the Ood-Sphere, 4226..._** *DW*

**The** Ood Elders raised their hands in salutation for the Doctor...the Oncoming Storm, the Last Time Lord...and began to sing a song of mourning...

Vale Decem...

*DW*

**_Vale_**_ Decem,_

_Ad aeternam,_

_Di meliora..._

*DW* **_...back on Earth, 2005..._** *DW*

**"Vale** Decem," whispered Romana.

"This song is ending...but the story never ends..."

So, with renewed strength, the Doctor ploughed on toward the TARDIS, with Romana close behind. He placed the key inside the lock and opened the Capsule.

*DW*

**_Ad_**_ aeternam,_

_Vale Decem,_

_Di meliora..._

*DW*

**Once** the Time Lords were inside, the Doctor hung his trenchcoat on the TARDIS coral. He then stepped towards the Console and dematerialised...

*DW*

**_Beati,_**

_Pacifici,_

_Vale Decem..._

*DW*

**The** Doctor was now beginning to feel the regenerative energy taking a hold. He had really been hoping to hold on to this life a lot longer...but alas, it was not meant to be. He and Romana would still hopefully get married someday...but it wouldn't be _him_ marrying her.

He gathered his resolve and steeled himself – for this regeneration was going to be an explosive one. At that same moment, Romana was preparing her words of farewell to this magnificent Doctor...

*DW*

**_Alis_**_ grave,_

_Ad perpetuam,_

_Memoriam,_

_Vale Decem,_

_Gratis tibi ago,_

_Ad aeternam,_

_Numquam singularis,_

_Numquam,_

_Dum spiro fido,_

_Vale, vale, vale, vale..._

*DW*

**The** next words were the last that would ever be spoken by the 10th Doctor; "I don't wanna go!" he gasped fearfully.

As if on cue, the telepathic song in Romana's head broke into a full choral chant. She felt the tears cascading uncontrollably down her cheeks – and she knew she had to say the words...

"I'll miss you!" Romana cried, as the regeneration built up in her fiancé's body, engulfing him in what was akin to orange fire. "You were the noblest Doctor of them all!" she exclaimed finally, echoing the 4th Doctor's last words to her 2nd self.

Suddenly, the Doctor was engulfed by the orange fire. The regeneration proved to be powerful enough to rip the Console Room to pieces and set the remainder aflame. The 10th Doctor had died with a bang...

...and when it was all over, the 11th Doctor – a young man with an enormous mop of black hair, stood in his predecessor's place. Moments later, the song in Romana's head ceased, and she took a good look at him checking himself over.

"Legs – got legs!" he cried, bending down to kiss his left knee, which made Romana smirk, despite the fact the she had lost a truly great Doctor to this stranger – she could only hope she would like this one too. The Doctor continued to ramble; "Arms! Hands! Ooooh, fingers – lots of fingers!" He moved his hands to his head. "Ears, yes! Eyes, two! Nose – I've had worse...chin, blimey! Hair..." he ran his hands over his hair. What he screamed next had Romana burst out laughing; "I'M A GIRL! No? No, I'm not a _girl!_ But there's something missing..." He tapped his head with all of his fingers repeatedly. "...something important...I'm...I'm..."

He was cut off by the sound of the damaged TARDIS shaking violently. Romana then supplied the word. "Crashing?"

The new Doctor then burst into hysterical laughter. As he stabilised the Console, he screamed only one word; "GERONIMO!"

With that, the Doctor and Romana went hurtling down to Earth in 1996, screaming in insane, wonderful joy...

*END*


End file.
